The Justice League and The Harbinger of Death
by kralizac
Summary: A Wave of Death brought about by a powerful seaquake had rained over Asia. What seemingly was a natural event, may in fact be a precursor to an even greater horror. Who's this madman that threatens the world? Will the League be on time to stop him? (done)
1. cover

**The Justice League and The Harbinger of Death**

by Arky

**Version 1.1 – Finished! Done! Complete! **

Author's Note:

Characters based on DC Comics Characters as appearing in

Batman: Death and the Maidens, Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, Batman: Tales of the Demon, Batman: War Games, Batman, Detective Comics, Batgirl, Robin, Identity Crisis, Teen Titans, Justice League of America, JLA: Elite, JLA: Classified, Batman/Superman, Adventures of Superman # 626, The Batman (cartoon) and a bit of Wonder Woman from the Justice League cartoon and that scene from Superman: Lost Hearts between Batman and Superman on who Bruce Wayne could be; they got that right by the way. Just as they've made _Batman Begins_ right. :D

If you haven't read the above and are planning to read 'em, then this is the spot where I say... SPOILER ALERT!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

DC Comics owns/has appropriate licenses and/or copyright © for these characters. I'm just simply borrowing them.

No profit is made from this fan fiction, so please don't sue me! My lawyers are all too busy making money from their other clients. They're happy that way and I'm happy that way, too!

Please excuse typos, grammatical errors and spelling failures.

This is all for fun!

But the plot! The plot is mine and mine alone!

Hope you guys love it.

Comments/violent reactions are very much appreciated:D ...Thank you in advance...

_For Dr M., my cardiologist who suggested I give writing a spin._

_For the Love of Comics!_

_For Batman and Justice League fans of all ages everywhere_

_For my comic book buddies, you know who you are. _

_For my Friends and Family. _


	2. prologue

**:prologue**

_SIX MONTHS Before T-Hour_

THE BLACK SEA

**THE BLACK** Sea Fleet was once the World's largest submarine force. The Russian subs dominated the world's oceans in sheer number and firepower. Today they were but rusting pieces of metal, discarded after the fall of the world's second superpower.

An Alfa-class fast attack submarine known for its titanium steel hull slowly made its way past her rusting sister ships. Following behind him was a Typhoon-class ballistic nuclear submarine. A woman commanded the ships to a secret underwater base. Soon she envisioned her father's work to be complete.

_TWO MONTHS Before T-Hour_

Quiranian Desert

**TWO HUGE** Special Nuclear containers were being loaded onto ordinary trucks including those for cesium. They were heavily guarded by armed men who swore alliance to a cause greater than their own.

A huge hooded man had provided the Quiranians, routing codes and account numbers hidden in the Swiss alps. The scientists and the Quiranians were thrilled. The funds were sufficient to purchase the weapons-grade plutonium that were being loaded but the money in the Swiss accounts never left the bank.

An MI5 operative was in the facility when it happened. He had managed to get a signal to his field office but as the trucks left the facility, the hooded man and his men razed the entire facility, leaving none alive just as they were commanded to do.

MI5's lost agent would be an open book for awhile.

Across the globe, _Aerie One_ picked up the garbled MI5 agent's signal. The massive computers aboard the impressive aircraft stored it and encrypted it to a secure location in downtown Metropolis. Later that day, it would be copied to the Justice League Watchtower.

_I_t will be months later when this bit of intelligence will be put to good use. In the world of intelligence, every bit of information was important but sometimes, you would never know when it will be useful.


	3. wave of death

**:wave of death**

_Two hours before T-Hour _

The Kent Farm

Smallville, Kansas

Snow had fallen on Smallville. The Kent farm was lively this year. There was more than one Kryptonian this year and one brought along his wife. It was always a happy household in this piece Americana. Jonathan and Martha Kent were salt of the Earth. They were the perfect parents to raise Kal-El of Krypton who would forever be Clark Kent to them.

"**CLARK KENT!"** came Martha Kent's disgusted voice, "Don't you take a peak at those presents!" As she saw him looking intently on the well wrapped and shiny gifts under the Christmas tree.

"MA!"

Conner Kent and Kara Kent laughed hard. They'd never seen Kal-El so human before.

Kon-El, cloned from Kal-El, aka Conner Kent (as he was enrolled in Smallville high) found it remarkable. He once thought that Clark Kent was the disguise and Superman the real thing. He didn't understand at all. The world's greatest hero was a Kansas farm boy.

Kara whose bluest blue eyes sparkled while she was laughing hard, had the opportunity once to see the Clark disguise while he showed her the sites in Metropolis. But not like this. Kal was very human tonight, almost like a kid with innocence spread across his face.

"Kara could you help me out here, a bit?" Lois called from the kitchen.

"Sure Lois," Kara was still smiling as walked to the kitchen while mother and son were in the living room laughing now. Kal- Clark had a bad habit of peaking at his presents, she was told. She caught Kon-El's eyes as she passed him and it seemed to her, he couldn't figure Kal out. For Kara Zor-El, Kal-El was the real person and not this Superman or this Clark Kent. But it was really hard to figure him out.

Lois looked at Kara and noticed at once the bright blue eyes of her husband's only living relative, and not the easiest thing to hide behind those glasses he wore.

"Kal is sooo..." Kara asked.

"Human," Lois finished for her. "He is something, isn't he?" Lois smiled as she said it. "When we first met, he was this newbie reporter who kept beating me to exclusives. He be the first on scene even after I ditched him. Of course, I didn't know at the time, he cheated."

She saw Kara's questioning look. It was ludicrous that Kal-El would cheat. "I didn't know he could... do all the things he could." Lois explained.

"Did you know that Clark has a Pulitzer? Its the Top Award for journalism." She explained for Kara.

"He did!" And all at once Kara was proud of her cousin.

"Yes! He loves writing and is really good at it but not as much as making a difference in the world." Lois paused. "He wants to make use of these gifts he has and make the world slightly better place. He can be this... _big boy scout, a dreamer _sometimes. I thought it was all an act once. But he'll save people's lives, put his own life on the line with or without his gifts. I realized that deep down thats who he is, there's no pretense."

"He **_is_** Superman," Conner called from behind them. Helping them with the china for their dinner.

"Thats right," Kara said with finality.

Lois smiled at her husband's relatives and all of a sudden thinking like they were her kids as well. Was this her subconscious saying, its the right time to have kids?

From two meters away, Clark could hear them talking and just smiled and help his father move the living room couch.

_ONE HOUR before T-hour_

The home of Jay and Joan Garrick

KEYSTONE CITY

"**THIS IS **wonderful Joan," Linda told Joan Garrick as they were feasting on a well cooked meal prepared by Jay's wife.

Wally looked around the table and saw the smiling faces of the people important to him. There was Bart Allen, Barry's grandchild from the future who was, he had to admit coming along much better since being Kid Flash.

There's Jay and Joan of course- Jay being the first Flash. He was like a grandfather to Wally. And Jessie, a speedster as well and a close family friend.

Then there's his wife, sitting beside him. It has been a crazy year with so many ups and downs. Especially after Boomerang was killed.

Wally West, undoubtedly the fastest man alive was very much happy to be surrounded by his family. What could ruin this day?

_ONE Hour before T-Hour_

Wayne Manor

Gotham City

**DEATH HAD** descended upon this house more often than most, Alfred Pennyworth thought once. This year had been no different though he hoped it would had been. The year previous to this had his charge, Bruce Wayne accused of murdering a former girlfriend whose body was left here in this manor.

This year was even worst. Another child was lost to them. Granted, she was not as gifted as the other children now sitting around this table. But her desire to fight crime and uphold justice was just as or even greater than these exceptional individuals. Then a few days later, Tim Drake became an orphan like his mentor, his father killed by a deranged woman, Alfred thanked God above she was now locked away at Arkham Asylum.

It had so far been a quiet meal as snow quietly blanketed Gotham. Dick Grayson ate and sat and talked normal enough but gone was the sparkling eyes. He would normally go out of his way to make the event a happy one. But with all the changes in his life, the boy wonder would not be cracking jokes.

Bruce and the kids made small talk and avoided "shop talk", the latter upon the insistence of Alfred their ever reliable "grandfather". Of the kids, it was ironic that Cassandra Cain, Batgirl who was liveliest of all. She had only quiet recently learned how to speak after unable to do so for most of her life.

She spoke to Bruce and Dick about her experiences in the 'Haven. Bruce, uncustomary had praised her on her improvements. Though her reading skills were speed of molasses slow in developing, she had started to make life a bit normal. For the world's deadliest martial artist, it was a deadly weakness that she could not read.

Secretly, Alfred wished she'd be able to get out more often, walk the streets, after all the world's greatest martial artist will mean nothing if she did not develop human interaction outside of their small group.

Bruce was most worried about Tim. He was not the happy child that discovered his and Dick's secret lives. It was understandable with the tragedies in their lives. Bruce wished he could do something with it, but knew better.

After the meal complete, Tim and Cassie excused themselves. They were going back to the 'Haven. Tim needed to visit his stepmother and uncharacteristically, Cassie offered to keep him company. The Boy Wonder agreed.

Bruce had asked Dick early on to patrol for him over Gotham. He was on his way to the Justice League Watchtower.

"Don't tell me you volunteered to sit on Monitor Duty? Its Christmas!" Dick was a reserve member of the League.

"No, sparing session with Diana... and to check up on things."

"Sure, no problem." _It was for Diana after all_, Dick thought.

Both men hurried to suit up. Dick leaving the cave for the City. Bruce on the other hand walked towards the transporter that would beam him to the Watchtower.

_45 Minutes before T-Hour_

4,000 Feet below

Indian Ocean

**AN AGING** Typhoon-class ballistic nuclear submarine, renamed _Holocaust _sank beneath the waves and headed towards the fault line off Indonesia's Sumatra Island.

The old Russian submarine was operated by a skeleton crew of 26 with most running the reactor section and dive control. The ship was not armed save for the nuclear tip warhead being prepared by a team of four.

On the bridge, a dark hooded man commanded his men expertly as the finest drill Sargent. He made them rush to install the system. By his count only thirty minutes left on their scheduled time for detonation.

_45 MINUTES before T-Hour_

Hidden Airfield

Aceh, Indonesia

**DAVID CAIN** walked in the humid jungle in Northern Indonesia. He had finished training these Islamic Militants. They were now ready to fight the Indonesian Government. David Cain was an assassin. He was the best in the world until he failed in his assignment to discredit Bruce Wayne, an assignment that he executed pleasurably to take revenge on the man for stealing his daughter from him.

Incarcerated for months, he escaped and disappeared. He didn't want to go back to work. What was there to go back to? His only daughter resented him so much, she joined The Batman's clan.

But then work hunted him.

Cain was hired to train these idiots. These uneducated zealot militants where farmers once- but the money lured talent and it didn't take much to shoot and aim. Someone with huge cash had paid him to supply the Islamic Militants of Northern Indonesia with weapons and training. And so he did. It was good money. He didn't care what they were going to do with it, though he had a pretty good idea what. No one was that stupid.

Then he got a call this morning. Encrypted 30 second instruction- it was important to keep such calls brief, Echelon and everybody else was always listening. The order was simple. Fly a plane a few hundred kilometers off Sumatra Island. He was to pickup a crew from the sea and to fly them off to Africa. And he was to keep the plane under the radar. It paid twice the amount they offered the training gig.

"Not a problem," Cain had replied. He had a plane and enough fuel to make it happen. He just received the signal. It would take him 20 minutes to get into position.

_30 Minutes before T-hour_

Justice League Watchtower

The Moon

**MAJOR DISASTER **was a member of the JLA Elite squad. Technically he's a reserve member of the Justice League. It also meant he got the most lousy monitor duty, standing watch on Christmas Eve and Day, no less. He didn't argue as much. He'd have New Year's free.

"Major Disaster."

"Whoa!" Booker was surprised and almost spilled his coffee. He didn't even hear Batman come in and neither did the alert systems on the transporter. _How does he do that?_ Booker asked himself.

"Report," The Batman ordered. It was Christmas and he still looked spooky.

"All systems are nominal, chief!" Major Disaster replied. "All's quiet."

"I'll be at the training level." With that the Batman left the monitor womb without even hearing Disaster's acknowledgment and headed two levels up and three corridors down.

When he opened the room, The Batman's mind recorded Diana's movements as she practiced not to mention her intoxicating perfume that had filled the small practice room.

"You're a minute early," Was all she said as her bo staff made a swish.

"Non-standard weapons today." The Batman said in his spooky voice, almost whispering.

"No batarangs then." She smiled as the words left her lips.

It was difficult for Bruce to see her like this. Her beautiful blue eyes covered, destroyed. She looked like justice. He set aside his thoughts on the subject. All of a sudden, she flew in the air, Bo Staff on hand and aimed right at the Dark Knight.

The Batman knew the moment he stepped into the room that their sparing session had begun. _Typical Diana_, he thought. He had half expected her to greet him with an attack. Gotham's Dark Knight reached behind him. He was prepared. He had brought escrima fighting sticks but did not yet reveal his weapon.

As Diana descended upon him, he had fully wrapped himself with his dark cape just a second before the bo-staff hit him, he step aside and somersaulted back. Diana would have expected him to jump forward, he knew and he was right. Diana had rolled her right leg to have met his landing.

He could hear her disappointment but she quickly recovered and turned her attention where she had heard him land. This time, The Batman met her blow with the hidden fighting sticks he had brought with him.

"Escrima? Isn't this more like Dick's style?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Yes," Was all the reply Diana would get. She knew of course why. Diana's mind processed this. He was practicing to prepare himself for a day if he had to fight his own son. This angered her, she did not know why. And her blows were even deadlier at this thought.

_She would be thinking that I'm using this as a way to practice using this sort of weapon against Dick or to know how it feels like to use them_. The Batman's mind thought. Sometimes, he found it difficult to admit, he just needed the practice.

"Its been a difficult year, hasn't it?" Diana asked as Bruce connected with a side kick. But it would take more than that to knock an Amazon Queen down and she replied with her own punch which hit Bruce dead center to the chest when she swung to her right. She was not holding much back. "What has become of Gotham now that Black Mask has gathered the Crime Families together?"

"An even more deadly place." The Batman replied as he picked himself up and entered into the offensive. Running towards her then he flew and let loose a flying kick which she had easily deflected. It was such an obvious move.

"Dick said you had sent Tim and Cassie off to the 'Haven? Wouldn't you need more help now that the police is hunting you down?"

"Tim needed to be away from the tragedies that Gotham reminded him and to give his stepmother the best quality care Bludhaven had to offer. Cassie though good needed to learn somethings with Tim... normal stuff. They can help each other out and the 'Haven needed a guardian angel without Nightwing there. It works out. You're talking to Dick now?"

It shocked Diana that he had answered her question. It was the longest two sentences he'd spoken during their training session.

"Yes, I talk to him." Then she quickly changed the subject. "Is that why Nightwing's in Gotham, to help you out instead of the kids?" Diana asked as she deflected Bruce's attack.

"The 'kids' are safer in the 'Haven".

Then she moved from defense to offense and Bruce fell to the ground and she pinned him there. He was worried about them. Bruce is always worried about his kids but what parent didn't?

"Don't you want to talk about Spoiler?" It took nearly a minute for Bruce to respond. She knew it was the Batman who answered her.

"She was a soldier lost in battle" as she turned the tables on him and the Batman found himself pinned on his back. Diana did not press him on the issue. She could feel his pain. Diana knew, it was for another day so she let go for now.

Instead she asked, changing the topic once again and grinning, "Getting tired?" This close, it grazed Bruce's mind, it would have been nice to look her in those beautiful blue eyes. Then she kicked herself free, sending Bruce across the room. Remarkably he executed a flawless landing. The Dark Knight was still on his feet. "It took you more than thirty seconds to get out of that hold. You were stalling for air!"

"I wasn't!" She grunted and went on the offensive once more.

"Really?" He knew he had gotten to her. It was a minor victory as she met him head on.

As his fighting stick connected with her bo-staff she said, "Did Victor report to you what happened to that Titan's mission in Opal City a week ago when they were out to retrieve Luthor's armor?"

"No, I just know they failed to retrieve the target."

"Cassie- Wonder Girl told me Tim broke down after they were fighting the Electrocutioner. He was pretty much stricken with grief. Cassie was troubled by it. I thought you should know."

"I have everything under control, Diana".

"Sure you do," she said with a knowing smile. "How about Cassie? Batgirl I mean? How's she doing? Hai!" Diana kicked him and Bruce landed on his back.

"She's doing fine." He spoke five seconds after standing back up and after a series of counterattacks, knocks Diana on her back. "You two should spar."

"Why? Because you're getting too old and too slow? Haven't you noticed by know that I've been giving you some breathing time? Think she'd be quick enough? Last longer? Didn't you have a no-meta plan for her?" Diana said with good humor as she knocked Bruce across the practice floor for the fifth time since they started.

As quickly as she had thrown him down, Bruce stood up. Walked across the room and crouched into another fighting stance.

"You know this is fun." Bruce didn't answer her back, he used his cape to trick Diana and as expected, she was relying on her hearing too much, had followed the false movement of the cape.

"Best date, we've had in awhile," she said turning to her right. Diana knew then, Bruce was toying with her.

Another flutter of cape and she used her strength to hit with her bo-staff. She didn't even catch the end of the Batman's cape. Then without warning, The Batman swung his escrima fighting stick to her- catching her by surprise! Diana fell to the ground. And she smiled. "Caught me there."

With another move, The Batman had pinned her to the training mat.

"You never told me your fourth reason why it was a bad idea to date." Bruce smiled at her statement, if ever so slightly. Somehow though blind, Diana knew she made the grim brooding Batman smile.

The klaxon sounded and that was when all hell broke lose again.

Wonder Woman and The Batman picked themselves up and ran towards the Monitor Womb amidst Major Disaster's frantic calls.

As they exited the training level, Wonder Woman muttered to herself, "Got away again."

_Zero Hour_

**THE NUCLEAR** device secured beside a mammoth nuclear reactor of a Typhoon-class Ballistic Nuclear submarine detonated right on top of plate on the Indian Ocean that rubbed against each other. The detonation caused the release of pent up forces equivalent to millions of megatons of nuclear bombs off the coast of Sumatra island, Indonesia.

Seismic readings from across the planet lit up. NOAA's network of sensors in the Pacific Ocean detected it. The entire Earth Monitoring system brightened like Christmas trees across the planet.

On the moon, the Justice League monitoring system received the relayed information. Then suddenly before Major Disaster could react- the system went haywire. External Communication and Transporters went down. The uninterrupted Justice League warning network failed.

**IN METROPOLIS**, Barbara Gordon's Justice League signal device buzzed in her pocket. Hidden from her father's view who was in the kitchen cleaning up, she checked it out. It was the backup system hidden across the Earth in the event that communication with the Watchtower failed. It was one of Bruce's many good ideas. The man was so paranoid but it served the world.

Barbara Gordon felt a shiver in her spine. What could have happened?

"Dad? I have a call from the office. Some thing's happened."

"What! They're calling you on Christmas?"

"Its something really important or else they wouldn't be calling.

Jim Gordon sighed. He was a cop or used to be. He understood. But what could an investment bank need one of their analyst at this time of the year? Like Bruce Wayne, he didn't want to find out, didn't want to know. He trusted his daughter to know what to do with her life.

By the time he got out of the kitchen, Barbara was already picking up the keys to her Hummer H3 and the present that he had given her.

"Bye, Dad, Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas dear," He said as they exchanged kisses and hugs.

As she drove out of her father's apartment, Black Canary was on the line and said she, Lady Blackhawk and Wildcat were headed for the hanger. They had some fun out in the town. All three were still sober though.

Barbara's train of thought broke as Dick was on the other line. "Barbara, whats going on? My JLA signal device called an automatic emergency code three—- lost of watchtower signal."

"I don't know Dick! I'm headed to the sky as protocols dictate. I know as much as you do right now."

"He's up there with Diana, Babs." She could feel the worry in his voice.

Barbara Gordon increased her speed even more. "Copy that, Dick. Give me a few more minutes to find out."

"Roger," Dick said as he closed the comms.

Barbara had a block left until she reached Aerie One when her comms when up again. It was Superman.

"Oracle," Superman's voice boomed over her signal device. "My signal device lit up, Emergency Protocol Three?"

"Somehow, Earth relay stations are reporting signal lost with the Watchtower. One of Bruce's brilliant plans. It could be nothing."

"I doubt that."

"I'm headed to check it out now as we speak" Oracle reassured, Superman. "I'm in my office now." She had in fact just boarded _Aerie One_ and Lady Blackhawk was bringing the mighty aircraft to the runway for takeoff. "Give me a few minutes."

"I'll hold".

_Aerie One_ had achieved takeoff and headed for standard cruising altitude with her cloaking drive engaged.

Barbara once she had plug herself into the system ran a diagnostic. "O to S, Watchtower comms are confirmed down, none of the backup systems are responding. S? B and D are there."

"Roger that O,"

**CLARK HAD **changed into his suit. The big yellow "S" Shield proudly displayed.

"What's wrong?" Lois asked, her worry spread clearly in her face.

"We lost comms to the Watchtower. Batman and Wonder Woman are up there."

As Conner and Kara were ready to fly out with him. Superman held his hand. "No, stay." They didn't even had a chance to say their "buts" as Superman glared at them before they could. Kara thought he had channeled the Bat. She was also worried about Wonder Woman. The look in his face, they knew something worried him. But something told them, he needed them here.

Kara knew the Batman and Diana were Superman's best friends in the world. He was worried.

To Kara and Conner he said, "I'll call for help if need be".

With that, Superman kissed his wife good bye and his mother on her cheek as he flew out faster than a Concorde on a deadline.

_5 Minutes from Zero Hour_

**ALONG THE** beaches that stretch the Indian Ocean- from Africa to to India, to Sir Lanka to Thailand to Indonesia and Malaysia, the people were startled by the sight that they saw. The sea had receded. In Thailand the beach goers, puzzled and excited at the same time walked into the sea where fish lay dying.

_10 Minutes from Zero Hour_

"**JUSTICE LEAGUE**," Oracle called from _Aerie One_ to all reserve and active members of the league. "Comms and tactical have been rerouted to me as per League By Law and Protocol. Watchtower is currently incommunicado".

_Aerie One_ didn't have the massive computer processing power of the Watchtower but it was close enough to a moving flying tactical coordinating center for the Justice League. It took awhile for Emergency Communications to be routed to the flying fortress. Then the Trouble Alert system finally caught up.

Barbara's eyes lit up as she analyzed the situation- a massive seaquake had erupted off Sumatra Island in Indonesia. NOAA and other relay stations are predicting a tidal wave at the very least—

"Oracle, priority override to Superman!"

"I'm here-" The Man of Steel was by now halfway across the distance between the moon and Earth.

"There's been a massive seaquake off Sumatra Island- an intensity 9 on the Richter scale- computers are projecting a major Tsunami event! ETA, 5 minutes until landfall."

The Man of Steel changed course and flew back to the Earth like he's never flown before. Oracle at the same time was frantically pulling up the JLA active roster. She activated them.

Wally West, Jay Garrick and Bart Allen raced out of Keystone City headed for the Indian Ocean. John Stewart and J'onn were likewise alerted. Oracle however didn't expect the gravity of the situation. Her system was projecting the size and speed of the wave. Then it hit her- it was going to stretch across the circumference of the Indian Ocean!

She sent John to the African coast and J'onn and Faith to Indonesia. The Flashes on the side of India, Sri Lanka and Superman to Thailand. Even as she did so, she knew what the outcome would be. How could they all stop thirty foot killer waves which she projected were going to hit in the next three minutes?

Oracle hit her own keyboard and began hacking to those countries' networks to send an alert coded using UN and JLA codes. But she knew too that such action was futile.

**THE BATMAN** had helped design the Watchtower's systems. He knew just as Steel, J'onn, Rey Palmer, Scott Free and Barbara Gordon the ins and outs of the System. He first had Major Disaster and Wonder Woman confirm what systems they did have.

Data from Earth Telemetry and Sol Monitoring Systems were running via a backup channel that he designed- but it was only one way, ETSMS was sending the data, the Watchtower could only receive it. Normally, the Watchtower would confirm receipt of the information.

Wonder Woman confirmed that the Watchtower's weapon systems were operational as well as their shield generators and battle armor. He was amazed at how quickly she was able to learn braille. He had just installed the special terminal for her a week ago. She was using it now as if it had been there for years, and with it she was linked to the entire Watchtower system. The Batman took a moment to consider it, he was sure she missed her sight and would gladly wish to have them back.

The Batman looked at the problem. The Watchtower's advanced security AI was now able to confirm the presence of a virus and a worm that worked in tandem. He'd discover "how" later, right now his priority was to get them to talk to Earth.

Running the system diagnostics, he discovered that the virus had attacked their comms and transporter systems, but he also discovered that they had a five minute window line of sight to one of the Earth-orbiting League Monitoring Satellite. _Could it be possible_, he asked himself?

He used the Watchtower's safe-mode protective software- and opened a secondary port to the laser communication system that the First League used. He used the laser which was like an infrared device on a mobile phone to "talk" to a League Monitoring Satellite orbiting the Earth. Sure, there wasn't enough bandwidth for voice or video, but there was enough for secure shell and instant messages.

Certainly enough, it worked! It took a bit of time- they were limited by light-speed but the lag wasn't that huge and the bandwidth, sufficient for their purposes. Upon link up with the Satellite system, he found Oracle hidden in the network. The Batman smiled. Major Disaster saw this and couldn't figure out if he should be scared or jump for joy.

"I have secure channel to Oracle." Major Disaster and Wonder Woman were surprised at the news.

The Batman opened a secure comm to Oracle.

B: O? Report.

O: what? B? Confirm ID.

B: good girl. Ask a question.

O: who stole the mags off your favorite car?

B: R2 did.

O: Welcome back, B.

B: Watchtower infected with virus. Comms and Transporters are down, expect return in 60 min, mark.

O: roger that B. As per JLA bylaws and emergency protocols, I have assumed co-ordinating system. B, its bad out here- an Earthquake...

B: We know. Watchtower is receiving telemetry information from ALL stations. Did you stop it?

_Zero Hour, now. _

**MARCUS LEE **had arrived from Hong Kong two days ago. He had brought along his wife and two kids. It was a particularly difficult time for them. His wife was an American psychiatrist practicing in Hong Kong and he was a very successful regional manager for an American Pharmaceutical company.

Their busy lives had taken a toll on their marriage. They hardly saw each other. Finally, he and his wife decided two weeks ago they would spend the holidays together and in a beach. They heard Thailand's was particularly beautiful and it was a quick hop from their home.

The sun had risen rather high by the time Marcus Lee had woken up that morning. The salt-sprayed air had greeted him. It had been a particularly relaxing night for him and his wife, Nicole. They haven't been a couple in a long time. Last night was special for both of them and he called it rather vividly.

Marcus looked over to his beautiful wife. Nicole's angelic face was turned to him. She with a faint smile as she slept. Slowly he got up. He did not want to disturb her sleep. Marcus found his clothes on top of hers on the wooden floor. They were on a rush last night to get them off. He dressed up, picked hers which he placed on a chair and made his way out their bedroom. She was always a late riser.

The warm sunlight greeted him. Beyond, he could see his kids playing, building castles in the sand. They were good kids, well behaved and well mannered for their age. He had his wife to thank for that. He was sure his genes didn't make it any easier.

When they saw him, they greeted, "Daddy!" And he waved at him and they waved back. Marcus slowly made his way to them. He noticed, people were enjoying their morning stroll. He then noticed how the water had receded rather farther than it was yesterday morning.

A fisherman he had greeted and chatted with, told him this was the first time it happened. Then he noticed people looking at the horizon and began to scream.

For a brief moment, his feet were firmly planted on the ground. When his mind snapped back in place, he picked up his kids and ran, as hard and as fast as he could and yelling at the top of his lungs, "NICOLE!"

The loud bass sound was fast approaching. Dread filled Marcus Lee at that instant. As he neared their cabin, his wife had stepped out of the door. Sleep clearly etched on her face but trying to figure out why people were screaming.

Nicole Lee saw the gigantic wave approach. _Was this a nightmare?_ She thought as her eyes were wide in shock and fear. Then she saw her husband carrying their kids moving towards their cabin.

"RUN!" He yelled. She did. And as they met up, he handed her their son. And together with everybody else on the beach sought higher ground. That was when the wave had hit them on their backs.

When the final toll of the tragedy would be written, only Nicole Lee and the conceived fetus she and Marcus had created the night before will be what remained of the Lee family.

**JOHN STEWART **had arrived in the African Coast seconds before the Tsunami would strike. Using the power of his ring, he extended a series of "dikes" to absorb the impact. He was able to reduce the force of the Tsunami's impact and reduce collateral damage. But few lives were still lost.

**WALLY WEST** knew they didn't have the raw power to stop a thirty-foot wave from crashing down on the Indian-sub continent coastline. So they did was they do best, started to bring people to higher ground. He figured 3 kilometers away was sufficient. But even with three of the world's fastest men alive providing shuttle service, there wasn't enough time to save many people. Not in less than 2 minutes since they arrived and not in the thousand kilometer stretch that these people were to be found along the coast.

**J'ONN J'ONZZ ARRIVED** in Indonesia mere seconds after the Tsunami impacted on the region. It was the closest to the origin of the Earthquake. He used his mental powers to track down survivors and began to take them to dry land. Today he feared that not all the miracles in world could have made a difference.

**SUPERMAN HAD **began his descent into Earth's atmosphere when his telescopic vision saw the wave passing through Phi Phi island. Then he saw the wave hit Indonesia and Thailand's Southern tip. He just didn't have time to stop it... and all he could do now was rescue the people but even then, he wasn't fast enough to make much difference.


	4. light amidst darkness

:light amidst the darkness 

**FIGHTING CONTINUED** in Aceh, Indonesia as relief workers took the heavy blunt of an attack by rebel forces in Northern Indonesia. Aid Workers in the region to help Tsunami Victims were forced to evacuate their camp and return to the Indonesian Capital.

"This is Rescue One," Lieutenant Jackson Karr called over the comm. "We are five miles to drop off point"

Suddenly, the Seahawk to his starboard blew up sending debris and shrapnel to the rest of the convoy. The SeaHawk covering their aft took the blunt of it and blew up as well.

"This is Rescue One! Mayday! Mayday! _Enterprise_, We are under attack!" But those were the last words Lieutenant Karr would say as another shoulder mounted missile hit his Seahawk. No one in his squadron would survive the day.

"**WITH THE** loss of a squadron of American Seahawks carrying relief workers and supplies, shot down by the rebels in Aceh and as the fighting intensified the Indonesian Government has sought help from the United Nations.

Thousands of Tsunami Victims remain unaccounted for and it remains unclear whether goods, supplies, food, water and medicine dropped from US Navy aircraft would reach the really affected provinces in Northern Indonesia..." GNN News reported live from Asia.

One man sat brooding and contemplating these events. Only he could see the evidence and suspected the hand being played. He thought of how best to help these people. He wasn't Superman but he will need his help to pull this off.

**UNITED NATIONS** General Assembly were gather for an Emergency Session. The death toll in the Indian Ocean was catastrophic! Almost Half a Million people already confirmed dead and many more missing. Even with the help of the Justice League, the devastation was in calculable. Rotting corpses littered the beaches of India, Sir Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. Emergency Services in the Region were all exhausted and strained to their limit. Food and Water for the survivors and there were many survivors was nearly gone. There was a pressing need for the Nations of the World to act.

Member Nations of the UN had taken their place in The General Assembly Chamber. The Gallery above where media and visitors were taking their places had already filled to capacity.

"We will come to ORDER!" the secretary-general called from the podium. "The Chair recognizes the distinguished gentleman from India!"

"Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, the Tsunami that has hit my country and our neighbors in the region has perpetuated a humanitarian crisis of epic scale! In fact, there is scarcely any facility available to administer to the survivors, much less bury our dead."

A gentleman from the Subcontinent rose up and said, "Mr. Ambassador! There is without doubt that your people are suffering, but are you not a nation with Nuclear arms- if such country has resources to build it, why not then route it for humanitarian concerns?"

The Ambassador of India countered, "My country's national security policy is not the question, our people are dying!"

For hours the membership prattled about the issue and raising other issues and Governments bickered and questioned but all knew that they needed to help. Some pointed out that regimes in the region may funnel funds into terror organizations or into graft.

On the gallery, Clark Kent stood by while the nations of the world debated how best to provide aid to the Tsunami hit lands. As the hours go by, his frustration mounted. He wished Diana was here, she was the diplomat but her recent injuries had forced her to temporarily not attend. Finally, he could stand it no longer. In a blur, the World's Greatest Hero entered the great hall. "Mr. Secretary-General, may I speak?"

The Chamber fell into a hush. "Of course, but you will need a sponsor."

"I, Artemis, by the power as acting representative of Themyscira, sponsors, Superman!"

And a handful of hands shot up to second Artemis. As Superman stepped into the podium, he began, "You have seen the Justice League take down alien threats, combat evil dictators, prevent injustice. In recent days, the Justice League failed. The League was unable to stop this tragedy in time."

Superman briefly paused and stared them all in the eye and seemingly every man, woman and child watching the broadcast which was going live across the planet was likewise looking him in the eye.

"We all know the facts. Over half a million people dead, about the same number displaced, homeless and basic human necessities- food and water nearly extinguished. The Justice League can not rescue all these people, we can not do it alone. We need you, everyone of your governments and people. Together, we can turn this from the human catastrophe that it is fast becoming, let us turn this tragedy into a symbol of human accomplishment and zeal."

For a brief moment, as applause rang across the great hall, into the streets, into the homes and offices across North America and spilling over the rest of the world, swayed into unity by an Alien from another world the peoples of the Earth agreed to accomplish a common goal.

**DOCKED IN** Gotham Bay at Wayne Harbor, The Wayne Foundation Flagship Yacht, _Martha_ was a buzz with activity. Under the stewardship of Bruce Wayne, who had insider information about the event regarding Superman's address of the United Nations was leading a Fund Raiser for the Victims of the Tsunami in Asia. The gala event was attended by the gossip columnists, the movers and shakers of Gotham's High Society.

Right now, the photographers were taking pictures non-stop of the couple dancing right now on the open deck. It was sure to make the front page of tomorrow's newspaper. Bruce Wayne was dancing cheek to cheek with Queen Diana of Themyscira.

Music quietly played in the background. _...Am I Blue..._

From a distance they could hear the press asking, if they were a couple. How did they meet and even some far off question if the rumors of their engagement were true and that they were to be wed in a few months.

"Clark should be here any minute." Diana whispered.

"We've never spoken about Dr. Light," Bruce replied instead as he spied Lois arriving.

_...ain't these tears in my eyes telling you..._

"How can you stand by with it?"

"Stand what?" Bruce asked, looking at her intently. It was hard to guess how her eyes looked. She was blind. She was disturbed by it all, not just what happened with the League. Somehow he understood it.

"These newsies photographing you all the time, writing article after article how seemingly shallow and empty your life is. Are you not worried about your family's legacy?"

_...Oh am I blue? I'll bet you would be too..._

"You know me better than that Diana," Bruce whispered to her ear. "When have you known me to seek attention, or to do something without an end-goal or do everything in my power to achieve an end-goal?"

"Dr. Light." Came the bitter reply-question.

_They wiped my mind, Diana! It would have been the stake that broke the camel's back- The League would have fallen apart. The Justice League... as Ollie once remarked, endures._ Bruce thought.

_...if each plan... done fell through..._

They danced quietly for minutes. Somehow he sensed her becoming more subtle. The orchestra kept playing more slowly now.

_...There was a time, I was your only one...!_

"More than that, Bruce... you could accomplish more than by dropping the playboy, bored rich boy act and use the full force of your _real _identity. Bruce Wayne will be the most loved, and cherished name in the world and not the most laughed at."

It would be nice to look into her eyes.

_...But now I'm, the sad and lonely one..._

"Clark once told me something like that when he set off to find Lana Lang a few months ago. 'Bruce Wayne' is just a prop. The Batman is the real person."

_...Am I Blue...?_

"Thats the kind of thinking that gets you into trouble, Bruce. Or have you forgotten about the woman who were killed to frame you? And that one who took a bullet for you?" She spoke those words as if she was looking at him straight in the eye.

_Vesper. _

_Sasha. _

The music stopped. Bruce looked up to where the crowed had began to gather. There was a hushed muttering as the Man of Steel descended from the heavens.

"Oh my!" said one old horrid looking woman who wore a set of diamond earrings and necklace.

The dancing stopped and Superman walked towards his friends. They still held on to each other.

"Thank you Mr. Wayne for inviting me tonight." Superman said as he shook Bruce's hand. He then turned his attention to Diana, "Your Highness," He stiffly said. There was still some resentment between the two of them about Dr. Light and Ruin.

"Such stiffness, Kal" Diana muttered as Lois approached them.

"Diana," the other woman greeted her then followed by a kiss in the cheek by Bruce.

"Lois, so nice to have you here." The billionaire said with our pretense. The four of them made strained small talk for about two minutes then in typical Bruce Wayne fashion, he called everyone's attention and he turned on the playboy charm a notch higher.

"Thank you all for coming here tonight! I don't have to tell you how much this means to the people in Asia." There was a momentary applause and Bruce profusely thank them. As the applause subsided, he said, "I wanted to make an announcement."

At the back of the deck, some people were murmuring, here comes the announcement of their engagement. One young woman added and with certainly, "Oh, no! he's going to propose to that awful blind woman!"

It is a rare occasion for Bruce to be speaking candidly. Like a master orator he summoned the control he learned born from years of training as The Batman, he stared each person in the deck in the eye.

His friends knew this look very well, this was when Bruce Wayne and The Batman somehow merged.

"My friends, I rarely speak of about my parents and rarely even in public," Bruce started. And all four people who knew him best within earshot were taken aback. The same thought crossed their minds: _what's he up too? _

"My father once saved a thousand people's lives in one night! He was a great doctor who ran with a good friend of his, Dr. Leslie Thomkins a free clinic near Crime Alley." He briefly paused then continued, "My mother was an amazing woman who like my father had a big heart and a deep sense of public spirit.

Seriously he panned his eyes across the room and briefly locked eyes on Diana, Clark, Lois and Alfred, "some of my closest and dearest friends have over the years have reminded me that 'I can make a difference' as Bruce Wayne."

Bruce continued under the flashbulbs and video cameras of the news media, "I have a confession to make. When I asked this ship to be built, I didn't just had them make a luxury ship. The _Martha _is one of the best, well equipped floating hospital, research and communications ship in the world. Tonight, I am offering her services to Queen Diana's embassy for use in the Tsunami Crisis as base of operations and hospital or however she may see fit to use her."

There was an applause then with practiced charm and wit that could seduce a crowd, "I am directing Wayne Industries' CEO, Lucius Fox to begin a donation of US2 Billion dollars over the next two years to relief and rehabilitation of the area and to provide the said funds to Queen Diana's and I will personally be in Aceh, Indonesia to support these efforts!".

As Bruce Wayne's friends and the crowd gathered remained stunned and as Diana had to shake her surprise, thanking Bruce publicly for the support and promising to make ample uses of these resources through the League and through her embassy, Lois muttered,"What's he up to?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Superman whispered. "But he isn't lying. I'd know if he's lying". That surprised both Lois and Diana who heard him utter those words in complete disbelief.

It was Lois who broke their enchantment. "Here I thought that after the glasses came off, nothing would surprise me." She muttered with only Diana and Clark hearing and understanding her.

Throughout the night, the fund raiser was a success, earning a surprising One Million US Dollars for the relief operation in Asia.

**HALF WAY** across the globe, in their hidden Himalayan retreat, Nyssa and Talia Al Ghul watched the live broadcast from Gotham.

Talia narrowed her eyes as she saw Bruce and Diana danced that night.

Nyssa was intently listening to Wayne as he made his announcement that night. "He knows, or at least he suspects."

Talia raised her left eyebrow, "Did you expect any less from him, dear sister? Our father always spoke highly of him."

"**ALFRED," BRUCE **began as he caught him in a corridor. "Did Hiro send the new deep-wing from the factory yet?"

"Mr. Okumura has indeed shipped it via WPS. He advises you, sir that the ship has not yet been field tested-."

"He meant that he hasn't had time to play with it yet."

"Notwithstanding your apparent faith in Mr. Okumura's engineering skills, he highly recommends not to take it deeper than the specs he has furnished. I have also taken the liberty of preparing additional change of clothes, supplies, utilities and I'm sure Ms. Diana will have adequate medical skilled personnel available should the need may warrant it and, oh Master Bruce, I had Ms. Green, your attorney update your will."

"Noted, Alfred. Have Dick meet me in the 'cave tonight and Tim, Cassie and Barbara link up via conference."

"Yes, sir."

_14 Hours later_

"**TIM? BATMAN** actually asked you to take this?" Cassandra Sandsmark asked her fellow Titan.

"Well, not exactly. He told me to give Cyborg a disc. My guess is that he had some weird deal with Cyborg. This plane Cyborg said was to serve as our mobile base and hospital ship while in Thailand. I think the mission was a request from the League."

"Cool, I'm cool with that." Conner said.

"This is a great plane!" Kid Flash was saying. "It even has an XBOX and a Playstation 2!"

"Oh that!" Robin smiled, "Those weren't exactly factory issued specs. I, uhh, called ahead to Hiro for those."

"Hiro built this!" Conner exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Who's Hiro?" Beast Boy asked.

"He's the new Toyman, lives in Japan in this big dojo-base-factory. Superboy and I helped recruit him a few months back. Real genius, thirteen years- well fourteen years old now. Good kid." Robin answered.

In the background the news item regarding Bruce Wayne's donation to the Tsunami relief was being played yet again.

"You know, I don't know what Diana sees in that guy. I think he's just riding on this issue. Isn't he a playboy or something?" Cassie remarked.

"Who? Bruce Wayne?" Conner asked. "Superman says, quote, unquote 'a swell guy' and if he's good enough for Superman, he's good enough for me."

"The guy did donate US2 Billion dollars, there must be something good about him, right Cass?" Beast Boy asked.

"I dunno."

Superboy glanced across the table to Robin, who he noticed didn't get into this discussion about Bruce Wayne. Didn't Wayne live in Gotham? He was about to ask that when Cyborg announced that they were on final approach to Thailand and that they were to strap themselves in for landing.

**BLUDHAVEN** **AIR** was as polluted as Gotham's. Yet Gotham's wicked stepsister didn't have the same bright sparkle of lights. Here it seemed like one long perpetual dismal night.

For Batgirl, this was home. It was her own city to protect. She had it all to herself, now that Robin's been temporarily reassigned by The Batman to work with the Teen Titans.

Soaring over her city, she found tonight, a routine patrol. Her orders from Batman was to patrol the city and clean it up. No change from previous instructions, save the fact that Robin was out of town. She noticed Batman more worried when he talked to her.

Strange that he also asked her to call him Bruce more often especially when he had his cowl down. For a woman who could read body language, she found at that moment, it was difficult to read Bat- _Bruce _then. Like he was hiding something from her. Then he asked her to continue trying to read and stressed it was important.

That was odd. He never explicitly would say things like that.

Now he was gone from Gotham. It was just Nightwing over there. And she looking out for things here. As Batgirl flew over her standard patrol she saw something move in the shadows.

Following her instincts, she trailed him. There was something familiar with the the way the shadow moved. It was almost like Shrike. But wasn't he in the hospital? Didn't they just fight a few weeks ago and it would take more than those weeks for him to heal.

The shadow moved closer to Wayne Industries-Bludhaven. Then she saw him. Impossible as it may be, it was Shrike! From her vantage point, Shrike was trying to break into the WI and making a clumsy way of doing it. Like _he _wanted to be caught.

Batgirl like a flowing ink dot dropped behind Shrike. She still could not believe it was him. His body movements were telegraphing, he _wanted_ to be caught. But why?

"I see you want more of the beating that I gave you?"

Shrike turned back. Batgirl had expected him to smile. And he did, one second before she thought it.

"Hello, Batgirl," Shrike said with a hideous grin then he ran towards her, drawing his sword in the process.

Batgirl was ready for him. But something indeed puzzled her. Shrike was almost clumsy executing the move. Though he was not up to fighting her a few weeks ago, at least he moved exactly as League of Assassin training demanded. His telegraphed movements where _amateur _at best.

Batgirl didn't even try to block the kick. Instead she countered with a move of her own, sending herself flying across towards him. Her kick landed squarely on his jaw, knocking Shrike to the ground.

When Shrike fell with a huge thud on the ground, Batgirl was surprised. He stood back up. Clearly the gushing blood from his mouth was nothing to him.

"Surprised?"

"How'd you..?"

"I took a restorative dip in _healing waters_, Batgirl. I'm sure you're old man will appreciate that bit of information. But then, you won't be around to tell him." With that he attacked her again.

Batgirl wasn't the world's expert martial artist for nothing! She avoided his blows and countered with her own- which all connected and under another circumstance would have sent the receiver, exquisite pain.

A chop in the neck, a connecting hit to his solar plexus. Blood poured out from his mouth. His body telegraph great injury but Shrike seemingly could not feel it.

"Hehehehehe," Shrike gloated. "I'm invincible Batgirl!" Then he reached for something in his belt. A vile of green liquid which he drank.

In his ear, a woman's voice called. "Mission accomplished, Shrike. Disengage."

"NOOO!" Shrike yelled. Batgirl could see he was listening to something. _A hidden comm in his ear? _She asked herself.

Then she could see the effects of the green liquid. It seemed to refresh him. And he attacked her without form or thought, like madness personified. With her talents to read body language and her quick reflexes, Batgirl was able dodge and hit back without injuring herself.

Above, beyond Batgirl's sight, a woman was disgusted with the sight she saw. _Such waste of trooper material_. She then reached for her sniper rifle and aimed at Shrike.

Batgirl from the edge of her sight, caught the gleam of the sniper rifle and dodged accordingly but the mindless Shrike was not so lucky. Two shots hit him in the back and another at his femur. He fell to the ground.

Batgirl thought to pursue the assassin. She was sure it was a woman and was certain that it was Shrike who was the target. Then she looked at Shrike, swimming in his own blood. He would die if she did not administer first aid and call for emergency services. The woman would have to wait.

The incident troubled her and long after the Emergency Services had taken Shrike to Bludhaven General, she had filled the report with Batman. Her mentor was half-way across the world now but when she called, he answered her.

He was troubled and clearly, she was right to report the incident to her.

"Cassandra," Bruce looked at her intently. "You did good. Take some rest and keep your eyes open. Report should anything else happen."

Bruce's body language told her all that she needed to know. She had given him valuable intelligence and whatever it was he was working on, this attack was linked to that.

**_AERIE ONE_ **flew over Germany airspace. Aboard her, Black Canary, Wildcat, Green Arrow, Lady Blackhawk and Oracle. Oracle had received an anonymous tip. There was going to be an attack at Kord Industries.

Kord was formerly Wayne Industries' Research and Development division, until it was the subject of a hostile takeover. It had angered Bruce, Barbara heard.

Could it be a coincidence someone was out there to undermine the World's Greatest Detective or simply just out to get Bruce Wayne? They've all been here before. Bruce had asked her to take the Birds and Ollie in for this mission.

Then it happened. From their vantage point, the Birds could see it was the League of Assassins.

Black Canary, Wildcat and Green Arrow dropped from Aerie One. They needed to stop the League of Assassins.

"Arrow, three to your port." Oracle coordinated from above.

Green Arrow answered by firing at the two Assassins. From the corner of his eye, he could see Black Canary make his way towards four more and from a distance he heard others groan and fall.

Wildcat sent him a thumbs up.

It was Black Canary who saw him. A huge hooded man standing before the gate of Kord Industries. She attacked him. Wildcat was not far behind.

The hooded man deflected ever blow Canary would give his way. He was just as fast and just as deadly. Somehow, Canary could see he was toying with them.

Wildcat gave the huge man a strong blow and the later fell but he got up quickly and sent Wildcat flying across the parking lot.

From a distance, Canary could see, Green Arrow was providing them cover, taking out the other League members.

Overhead, Oracle was observing the battle. The League of Assassins were stalling. But for what?

As Canary tried to hit the hooded man again, he sent her to kiss the ground. Then she noticed him holding his hand in his right ear. He was listening to someone. _The Canary Cry would sway this battle to our side_, she thought.

The hooded man in a deep voice ordered the League of Assassins to withdraw. Before Black Canary could focus her attack, the relentless man knocked her out and before she fell to deep nothingness, she saw Green Arrow fall as a sniper got him.

**DR. MID-NITE** was administering to his patients. Black Canary had several broken bones, and cracked ribs as did Wildcat. They were the lucky ones. They would be out of the fight for weeks.

Green Arrow's injuries were more severe though. Had _Aerie One_ not found a very close transporter, they would be burying Ollie for the second time now. Mid-nite had done everything he could and Ollie was a fighter. That was the only thing keeping him alive.


	5. pieces

:pieces 

"**ARE YOU **sure this is wise, Master Bruce? Alfred asked descending from an upper deck of the operations center into the launch area. They were in a secured area of the _Martha_. It was Bruce's second newest secret, a mobile Batcave at the heart of ship he named after his mother.

"I need to be certain, Alfred".

"The Royal Navy will be dispatching a ship to the area to study the quake."

"I know but they will not be looking for the signs." Bruce said as he covered his face with his dreaded cowl. The transformation was complete.

The Batman boarded the new Deep-Wing sub. It was based on the same principles of the Deep Flight project. Bruce Wayne used one of his many disguises to find out all he could about Deep Flight from its creators. Through various charities and donations and an up close and personal meet with the designer and machine itself, gave him all the ideas he needed.

Using the massive supercomputer in the cave, he had designed two generations greater than the Deep Flight project had been able to pursue. Of course, only he had access to composite materials and instrumentation needed for such an evolutionary leap and he had Hiro Okumura. Hiro had even added to the innovations he had incorporated into the design.

"Deep-Wing, preflight sequence." He called over the comm and the flight recorder began. The mighty plane-like submarine began to warm up its subsystems. "Flight Dynamics, Navigation, Sensors, Batwave Comms, Tactical, and backup systems confirm checks complete."

Alfred had been monitoring this on the _Martha's_ port terminal where the Deep-Wing was currently hooked up. "Confirmed, Master Bruce. Deep-Wing is ready for flight. _Martha _will be recording and bi-directional comms are online. I am now deploying underwater Batwave array."

The Batman secured the command cabin and the sensors told him, the ship was secure for undersea flight.

"Deep-Wing ready for flight."

The Batman's fingers flew across the command panel, "Unhooking mooring clamps." Then came several clanks and the Deep-Wing slipped under the water. Power was transferred from the ship's engines to the drive train and into the twin pump-jet-propulsor and like a plane in water, the Deep-Wing cruised and began its descent deeper into Indian Ocean.

**ALFRED LEFT** the hidden command and control room and ventured to the upper decks. As he strode past several amazons unpacking relief medicines and food packs, Diana walked towards him regally.

"Alfred?"

"Yes, Miss Diana?" The older man paused. "How may I be of service?"

"Where's Bruce?"

"Ah, the Master is indisposed at the moment, Miss."

Diana had slightly adjusted her hearing's focus, searching for anybody within earshot. Satisfied that they were alone, she asked, "Don't tell me he went into the jungle."

"No, he did not." Alfred told her flatly.

"The Master sought to test a new toy- way beyond of course its manufacturer's recommended limit to... his phrase: _I need to be certain_."

"What egotistical thing did he do now?" Anger was rising in her.

"I may be unemployed in the next few minutes, but I suppose I could show you."

Alfred retraced for both of them the way towards the on-board "Batcave"- one of the _Martha's _secrets.

"**BATMAN? ARE** you there?" Oracle's face filled the massive onboard computer system. "Please pickup! I have the analysis you requested from the Watchtower's systems!"

_Bruce where are you?_

**UPON ENTERING** the mobile Batcave, Alfred and Diana could hear Oracle's voice over the comm. Both stroke quicker and Alfred activated the channel and accepted Oracle's.

"B," Oracle paused. "Alfred? Diana?" She was startled. "Where's Bruce?"

"As I was saying to Miss Diana,"

_Miss Diana, _somehow Oracle found it funny but didn't smile. She was sure Diana felt it was endearing. Oracle did, when Alfred called her "Miss Barbara".

Their old friend continued, "The master made use of his new toy to take a dip into the Indian Ocean."

"What the hell for!"

"His purpose, to study the quake and hence understand the Tsunami. However, the specifications Mr. Okumura transmitted about the new ship- gives me cause for concern. The Deep-Wing is not rigged to dive that deep."

"Bruce must really trust this Okumura" Diana stated it as fact.

"He helped design it- but the quake is about 4,000 ft below us. The Deep-Wing is suited to- pardon the term, "fly" for only about 3000 ft." Alfred said.

"What!" Both women said at the same time. "Aahhh!" Diana was clearly peeved. "This is why he did this! It's a ruse to get his ship in the area without attracting attention!" The realization that Bruce Wayne's charity work which helped fund her embassy's was a subtle manipulation on Bruce's part had caused anger to rise beyond their limits in Wonder Woman.

Just then, the Batwave, red-alert signal activated. "I believe, The Deep-Wing has reached beyond the ship's limits." As Alfred turned on the monitor, it wasn't the Deep-Wing that was in trouble. It was the _Martha_. Armed men were approaching the ship.

"Miss Diana," Alfred calmly started. "It is not Master Bruce who is in trouble. I believe we have company." He explained for the blind woman what he meant. An entire Army was attacking them. Though she was confident she and Amazon sisters could handle them all, the numbers might make the difference.

"Are you getting this Barb?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Get the League here now." She commanded. "Open a channel ship-wide if you please, Alfred."

"Done, Miss Diana".

"Attention all hands! This is Wonder Woman! We are under attack! Battle Positions!" As Wonder Woman made her way out of the Mobile Batcave to engage their enemy, she told Alfred, "Get him here fast Alfred."

"Yes, Ma'am."

**DEEP-WING HAD** attained 4,000 ft. The specs Hiro had sent recommended that that the limit was 3,000ft. The Batman knew the little ship could take this depth. He helped develop it. He knew the limits it could handle. Hiro was an engineer and engineers when they design, make "safety limits" to their work. The good ones did anyway.

The Batwave sensors were already lighting up. Huge amounts of radiation. His sensors also picked up hull fragments that could only come from a submarine.

The Deep-Wing had a layer of Cell Processors. Though commercially used as game consoles, he had employed them to provide the Deep-Wing massive computation capability. He would soon employ the same for his other installations and vehicles as well as his Batsuit.

The system was already nearing their analysis.

The earthquake, though could have been naturally occured in the region was artificially triggered. Someone went through all the trouble of building a nuclear bomb and used it as catalyst.

Batman ran the test twice. A 15 Kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated here. It had sent off a chain reaction leading up to the tsunami. The Uranium 239/240 proportions read 98.93 and 0.45 respectively. There was no doubt about it.

Why the satellites didn't detect it was another question to consider. He would need Barbara to confirm his suspicions.

The Batman was preparing to angle the Deep-Wing back to the surface when Alfred's signal came through. _The depth must be interfering with the Batwave, which shouldn't happen,_ The Batman thought. He would have to check that later.

"Master-" There was a loud crackle of static, "trouble-"

"Alfred you are breaking up," The Batman said as the Deep-Wing reached 3,500 ft. "Repeat your message."

Then Alfred's face appeared clearly on the comm panel as the Deep-Wing reached passed 3,000 ft. "Master Bruce, we're under attacked!"

**SUPERMAN WAS** in Sri Langka. He was assisting Supergirl in constructing temporary shelters for the displaced families in the Region.

Nearby the Teen Titans had just arrived to provide assistance. They moved their flying base from Thailand where the disaster was pretty much manageable by International Relief Organization. The IRO redeployed the team to where they were most needed.

Sri Langka was turning out to be a humanitarian disaster. The rotting corpse of the victims lay unclaimed. Even with Superman's superspeed, it wasn't fast enough. Soon disease was setting in.

Food and water were fast running out. The Titans carried the fresh batch of supplies in days. Cyborg and Robin's first task was to build a water purifying facility in the various refugee sites.

Superboy, Kid Flash and Beast Boy's duty was to initiate decontamination procedures. While Wonder Girl and Raven's were to pass along food and medicine.

Then Oracle's Critic Alert sounded in Superman's ears. "JLA Emergency! Superman, Wonder Woman and the Amazons are in trouble! They are under attack by persons unknown on the _Martha_!"

"What!" Superman's eyes lit up.

"Flash and GL are en route! Batman, we're still trying to get a hold of him." Oracle reported.

"Acknowledge," Superman turned to Conner and Kara. "Superboy, Supergirl! Wonder Girl! With Me! Cyborg, have someone take over for Kara and Cassie! Diana's in trouble!"

The younger heroes tried in vain to keep up with Superman who was flying at top speed towards Aceh, Indonesia. The sonic booms they created echoed throughout the region.

As Superman traveled the distance from Sri Langka to Indonesia, his thoughts were on his friends. _Diana better be all right. And where was Bruce? Wasn't he suppose to be with her?_

**DEEP-WING SENSORS **had picked up the boarding party trying to gain access to the _Martha_. The Batman activated his submersible's weapon array. He aimed for the engines. Torpedoes left their launch bays and journeyed towards their targets.

The Captain of the _Martha_ had wisely decided to withdraw to open water when the sound of alert was first rung. Yet the first wave had already descended upon them by the time the engines were powered up and the anchor retrieved.

Other than the secret weapons stashed in the mobile Batcave, the Wayne yacht had no weapons. And the captain had no knowledge of course of Bruce's secret compartment.

The Batman counted five speed boats and a light cruiser left. He disposed of the nearest speed boats to the _Martha_ and fired his last spread on the light cruiser's rudder.

They impacted and but the damage was not sufficient to render it immovable. The Batman headed to the underwater docking port. He could do much more good on deck.

**ABOVE DIANA **had flown and provided a screen to the fleeing yacht as best she could. Her Amazons had drawn up their arms and were fighting of the first and second wave boarding parties. They were outnumbered two to one.

Who were these people? They even had shoulder mounted rockets. She had already deflected a number of missiles from hitting the Yacht as it sluggishly sped outbound to sea.

Their enemy's number was overwhelming. Her twenty amazon warriors were the best, but even with a Wonder Woman, the sheer number would soon overwhelm them.

She knew Bruce had arrived the moment some of the speed boats blew up.

Minutes later, she heard him save one of her Amazons. Diana wished she could see him as she heard him relentlessly engaged their challengers.

Then she heard them. The sonic boom was unmistakable. Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Flash and John Stewart, the Green Lantern had arrived.

The tide was turning to their favor.

**DAVID CAIN** heard the unmistakable explosion of torpedoes impacting on boats. It was the cursed prat, Bruce Wayne. He must have brought along a submersible. Why he didn't engage early on was a mystery which he did not care to solve. It wasn't his concern.

He knew the insurgents would lose. He began to abandon his post. His orders were clear after all. He was to incite these fools into attacking Queen Diana's mission. The Justice League, he was told would come to their aid.

Winning, he was also informed by his principal, was not a priority. He would have argued otherwise it was not do-able, at least with this bunch alone. They could over run the Amazons in sheer number true, but without heavy metahuman support, these fools he knew wouldn't stand a chance against the Justice League.

From this distance just before he broke position, he could see his former pupil fight like a demon driven on that deck. His own daughter wouldn't stand a chance against the Bat, at least not like how he was fighting now.

Cain smiled knowingly. _Soon,_ He thought.

When Superman arrived, he knew it would be a matter of minutes before it was all over.

David Cain silently withdrew into the jungle. His next stop would be Jakarta. Tomorrow he would be in a different part of the world as he was ordered to be.

**TALIA AL GHUL **walked the streets of Montreal. Snow had pilled up. It was dismal this time of year on this part of the world. Though the streets of this proud French speaking city were beautifully lined by artistically built Talia's thoughts were on many torrid subjects: Ra's Al Ghul, her father; Nyssa, her half-sister, Bruce Wayne The Batman. Then she thought what she wanted to do with her life. She had the gift of living many lifetimes.

The following morning, Talia Al Ghul boarded a commercial Airline just like anybody else, in first class though and its destination was the Swiss Alps.

**FOUR AMAZONS** and ten Wayne Foundation volunteers were dead in the wake of the terrorist attack on the _Martha_. In the aftermath, Bruce had order his ship's captain to set course for India at maximum speed.

He also handed Oracle several sets of bank accounts in various places around the world. His orders were to monitor those accounts and relay to him movements in those accounts.

**LUTHOR WALKED **into the English Castle. He was rather piqued at the invitation. Come alone. Simply signed, Ra's Al Ghul.

The last time he had anything with an Al Ghul, she sold his company to his competitor. But few people in the world knew where he was. Least of all one of his arch enemy's. He had also heard from the grapevine that Ra's was dead.

Then again, Luthor thought, so was he, supposedly.

A guard- a huge man greeted him. He did not speak only signed to follow him. The English Castle was damp. It was ancient. But he wasn't in England. He was in Russia. Ra's obviously had this pile of bricks transported.

The man in front of Luthor, opened a large door. Behind it, a spartan living room. He was ushered in and the door was closed behind him with a thud.

Inside a woman was preparing tea.

"Earl Grey?" She asked.

"I did not come here to drink tea. Where is Ra's Al Ghul?"

"Suit yourself," she paused as she tasted the blend. "Aaahhh. One of these days I must start my own blend. My father had his own."

"Your father is Ra's Al Ghul?"

"He was called that among many things."

"I did not come here to waste time. Where is he?" Lex's anger was rising.

"It was not my father who summoned you. I did."

"I am never summoned." She found his remark, amusing.

"I am sure your father will not find your using his name-"

"I am Ra's Al Ghul, Luthor."

"I do not understand."

"I was told you were a smart man. I suppose not as smart as the Detective."

"Batman." Luthor said bitterly. "I did not come here to be insulted."

"And I did not summon you here to make small talk. You will help me destroy the Detective and _his_ Justice League."

"Destroy Batman! And the League? You must be delirious." Luthor laughed hard. "Young lady-"

"There will be a war-".

"War!"

"You will assemble a team of metahumans- the Legion of Doom."

"Legion!""

"You will engage the Justice League. "

"What makes you think, I want to destroy the Justice League?"

"Transport awaits you below this castle."

"My fight is not with the League".

"True."

"My fight is with the accursed alien!"

"And you have lost sight of that."

"And his friend- The_ Batman_".

"True."

"The League is not my enemy, the Batman and Superman are."

"Without them and Wonder Woman, there will be no league."

"So, if we follow your logic, I must attack Batman and Superman."

"You will not win."

"Neither has your father, Al Ghul".

"Superman can inspire his League. He is the very symbol of hope. Wonder Woman, a master of war and ambassador of peace is his lieutenant who can lead the League in Battle. But without the Batman's tactical skills, they are nothing."

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

"Break them apart. Take care of the League and I will handle the Batman. Without the Batman, the League will fight toe-to-toe, raw brute power- they will lack the elegance of his perverted mind at the moment of crisis."

"Your father faced Batman before and he has not won. What makes you think you could?"

"My father and the Detective have clashed time and time again. Neither winning completely or it ended in stalemate. My father had a soft spot for the man his daughter, my sister loves and the man he trained and chosen as successor. I do not."

"Talia was in love with Batman!" Luthor found it ludicrous. "That's why she betrayed me! Sold LexCorp to Batman's ally Wayne! Wait- the Batman was trained by Ra's!"

Nyssa only nodded. With this admission, Nyssa knew Luthor's limits. Perhaps no one in the world knew how really dangerous the Detective was. Her father had indeed found a match worthy of him.

"If your father or the Joker or many others could not defeat him, what makes you capable?"

Nyssa stared Luthor straight in the eye. "I killed my father." Pausing for but a second, "I am Ra's Al Ghul."

An hour later and opening a channel to the Calculator, a Gulfstream V left the underground hanger of Nyssa's Russian fortress. Lex Luthor was aboard with a squadron of League of Assassins. Across the globe, the newly formed Legion of Doom and Lex Luthor are all headed to Northern Zek'nya.

**THE TELEVISION** in Nyssa's study was tuned into Gotham-Global News Network. Ironically, it was one of the holdings her archenemy Bruce Wayne had yet to acquire.

"Two hours ago, the NASA Transport ship, _Hermes _made a successful launch." Pictures of the Transport ship was being played on screen. "The Hermes is the second-ship of the line developed by NASA that had replaced the Space Shuttle. The _Hermes_ is scheduled to link up with the International Space Station which is accelerating construction of the first Intra-Sol-System Ship, _Enterprise." _The networked displayed pictures of a partly built ship being assembled. "She is carrying parts to complete the _Enterprise. _Also the transport will be delivering much needed food supplies and a fresh crew to the ISS."

A button in Nyssa's secure phone flashed. It was the North American cell leader of the League of Assassins. The phone was secure enough from intercept by various organizations, including Echelon and the Justice League. However, Nyssa still limited their use. In this case, she had specifically ordered a report be made on their mission.

"Demon's Head," The cell leader bowed as he said so. "The Mission was a success."

"Splendid! Carry on," Nyssa said with a smile and the Cell Leader disconnected the transmission.

The male news anchor was quite handsome, Nyssa thought. _Perhaps she needed to find a new lover, or perhaps a new toy_. She mussed. _Maybe later_, she thought.

The news anchor had continued on with their headline. "A terrorist attack was made yesterday on the Mission of Queen Diana of Themyscira in Tsunami hit Aceh, Indonesia. Authorities are still investigating the incident. The mission was saved by the timely arrival of the Justice League. Billionaire Bruce Wayne and her royal highness were unharmed."

A female news anchor continued, "In related news, the reported relationship between Billionaire Philanthropist and Industrialist Bruce Wayne and Queen Diana of Themyscira has reached a boiling point yesterday as the couple are leading the mission to save lives in Tsunami hit Aceh, Indonesia... seen here."

Video of Bruce and Diana on the beach setting up their mission was displayed. "Rumors of impending marriage has rocked the Gotham society world... is the world's most eligible and elusive bachelor off the market?"

"**FOUR AMAZONS** are dead Bruce!" Diana was furious. "As is, ten of _our_ volunteers! Wayne Industries volunteers! Don't you even _care_?"

The Justice League had gathered in the _Martha's _secret Mobile Batcave. Flash, Green Lantern, Arthur, J'onn J'onzz, Plastic Man, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Batman were around the mission coordinating board.

Bruce had removed his cowl and sat across Diana, unshaken by her anger. He had irk her again. Looking at Superman, his friend was not far behind Diana's anger.

"If you needed to uncover something about that earthquake, fine! Why drag all these people into harm's way just to act as cover for your paranoid delusions!"

Bruce stared at her but to each member of the League, it felt he was looking at each of them. Though his cowl was off, he still inspired fear in his teammates.

It took a moment for him to respond. He didn't feel he needed to explain. Yet he did something uncharacteristic of the Batman, he came clean about his motives. He spoke quietly, almost as a whisper as if to emphasize his point, "You and our people were never a cover for any operation I had. I thought that with you and the League around, we could actually send relief to these people. It would have been safer, than to send Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteers. Our people could defend themselves, Red Cross or Red Crescent people can not. I thought we could do real good here, to make a difference in the world as Bruce and Diana."

It calmed Diana and her anger at him dissipated. _This man keeps surprising me! Why!_

The Batman did not wait for his team members' reaction. If what he suspects is happening, then they were running out of time. Pressing a button on the board, each member of the league were shown the data he had acquired and analyzed. For Diana's sake, he spoke what he had just put on screen.

"The images you are seeing was data of the fault line where the earthquake occurred weeks ago. This," Bruce pressed a button again brought another screen, "Is an analysis made by the Deep-Wing and what is basically saying, a 15 Kiloton bomb was detonated here. That set off the earthquake and helped create the tsunami."

"Wait-" Superman was the first to speak. "You're saying that the quake and Tsunami were artificially created?"

"Yes." Bruce answered.

"Not that I doubt your work but have we confirmed this?" It was Flash who was asking.

"I had asked Oracle to evaluate the data."

Arthur did not doubt Bruce. He was the best. Nonetheless he turned to the Martian beside him and asked, "J'onn?"

"Everything seems to be in order." J'onn J'onzz replied.

"But why didn't NORAD or our League systems or any of the other monitoring systems detect this? We knew there was a quake. We knew there was a Tsunami, real time. Why not a bomb?" John Stewart asked.

"I had asked that same question when I found this evidence." Bruce replied. "I asked Oracle to dissect the Virus we had uncovered in the Watchtower. It is actually a worm and a virus. The worm gathered the necessary data the virus needed and created the virus. The worm had the viral template. We then checked the Global network including NORAD and other keep sites. One was sent to the world wide network to "hide" the fact that a 15 kiloton bomb was detonated, but not the rest of the picture. Another had forced the watchtower's communications and transporter capability to be rendered in operative for hours on end."

"Who would profit from such a thing?"

All eyes were on Bruce.

"I have my suspicions." Plastic Man turned himself into a giant question mark.

"Luthor," Superman simply said.

"No," Bruce said at once. "It is too sophisticated."

"Ra's then" Diana said.

"Ra's Al Ghul is dead." Bruce stated.

Everyone around him was shocked. "They've all come back to life, one way or another, why not now?" Arthur asked.

"Because I burned his corpse, took DNA samples from various random parts of his body and had it analyzed. It all checked out."

"Did you kill him?" It was Superman who asked.

Bruce stared at Wonder Woman and not at Superman, when he flatly replied. "No."

All three remembered their meeting at Superman's fortress about Ruin and Dr. Light. Relief washed over Superman. His friend stayed true to their course. Though Bruce did not stare at him, he knew his friend would count on him using his superhearing to detect if he was lying. The Batman didn't lie.

"Since there is not much for the League to do with this mystery, we will continue in our efforts to support International Relief Organization. Diana, with Bruce's permission to use his ship and resources, can you continue with your Embassy's mission?" J'onn asked.

"Yes," Diana wished she could see Bruce's eyes. They spoke volumes.

"Cyborg could use more people." Superman reported.

"The Amazons can provide assistance to the Titans. Cassie can help lead them." Diana replied.

"Jay and the JSA are in dire need of assistance as well." Flash reported.

"The Wayne Foundation will provide what both teams will need." Bruce replied.

"What about you Bruce?" Diana asked.

"Alfred will go with you Diana. I will continue with the investigation." The Dark Knight answered her. "J'onn, will there be more..?"

"No. I guess, we are done. Meeting adjourned." With that, Bruce headed up the flight of stairs and towards his computer.

"Guess the wedding's off," Plastic Man muttered.

"I heard that," Both Bruce and Diana said sternly.

Plastic Man let out a "gulp". Most of the Justice League headed for their transporters. There was other work to be done. Flash on the other hand zipped out and ran towards India. Superman flew back to Metropolis. Wonder Woman followed Bruce to his chair.

"I'm sorry," She started.

"I only wanted Bruce Wayne to be more than a prop... I want the Wayne family name to be remembered for their accomplished work just as you suggested. I was being selfish."

"I'm sorry, Bruce." She did not see the hurt look in his eyes as he returned to work.

Wonder Woman walked back top to the deck above them. Her Amazons were grieving. They needed her too.

**THE _MARTHA_ **had approached the Indian Sub-continent coast line. Oracle still aboard her aircraft, _Aerie One _had a subprogram monitoring the various accounts Bruce had given her to watch. They flagged that US10 Billion moved from various accounts to another.

It did not happen simultaneously though. It was not made by one person along either.

Oracle was awaken by her computers alerting her to the transactions. She had immediately contacted Batman.

Five minutes later, the door to Diana's cabin opened. Bruce Wayne had slipped out and descended into the stairs and into the false-bulkhead that hid the entrance to the ship's Batcave. Thereafter, the Deep-Wing had launched with no one the wiser it was ever there.

The submarine was headed towards the Indian coast at faster speeds that the _Martha_ could ever accomplish on a good day. The Batman was in full costume. In one of the inlets, Wayne had kept a hidden base, known only to his Bat-Family. Outside it was a Wayne Industries refit facility, but inside, it was a refueling and rearming station for the Bat-family for the eventuality of global operations.

When he joined the Justice League, the Batman thought he didn't quite need such mobile bases and stations. After his lost to Bane, Bruce had built mobile Batcaves around Gotham. Likewise after a series of Global cases, especially after clashing time and time again against Ra's, the Batman decided he too needed strategic bases across the globe so he had these stations built. Some, he had disclosed to Dick, Tim, Cassie and Alfred. Others only he and Alfred knew.

The accounts that he had asked Oracle to monitor were known accounts of The League of Assassins. Movement could only mean that Nyssa was on the move.

He knew Talia was the brains- she was well trained in business and had an astute mind for it. When she ran LexCorp, her business acumen in fact increased. He knew it was Talia who managed Ra's considerable business enterprise and laundered the illegal money it generated. It was one of the facts why Ra's was terribly hit when Talia left his employ to seek her own fortune.

Yet the analysis Oracle had sent him showed substantial money did move- which he knew Talia did those movements. But it was more than what was going to be needed in an operation.

The funds near as Oracle could determine moved to known Villains. The bulk went to Norther Zek'nya. Thats where Nyssa intends to strike next, the Batman thought. _But how and why?_ The Batman asked himself.

The bigger chunk of funds were transferred from off shore accounts in the Cayman Islands and the Swiss Alps to various banks in Europe, in Asia and the United States.

Oracle was still determining into who's accounts that money went.

_What were Nyssa and Talia up to? _

Then Oracle told him that Kord Industries had changed hands again. Someone had bought the company for triple its stock price and that the new chairman would be heading up the company. Oracle reported that the new owner would personally be making the announcement at the Kord Industry German facility tomorrow.

That was Talia's move. Bruce was sure about it. But what about Nyssa?

Bruce Wayne had slipped into the Indian harbor and was en route to Delhi incognito. Nightwing and Batgirl were given instructions to be ready to move as was Robin. The latter was ordered to abandon his Titans post at a moment's notice. Not six hours later, a private jet left New Delhi bound for Germany.

**DIANA HAD** awakened the following morning refreshed. A smile spread across her face. Getting up, she picked up her discarded robes and walked out of her cabin. The morning sun greeted her warmly.

She walked towards Alfred who she heard was in the upper deck.

"Alfred? Where's Bruce?"

"Miss Diana, I had thought he spent the night in your company. His _den _and cabin are surprisingly empty."

"He did, but I woke up and he wasn't there-"

Through unspoken communication, both made their way into the Batman's secret mobile operations center. They had found the systems in passive mode. They had not yet noticed the Deep-Wing's absence.

"Can you get in touch with Oracle?"

"Certainly, Miss Diana".

"It's just 'Diana', Alfred." _He was such a sweet man, _she thought.

"Oracle," The woman information, intelligence, coordinating unit replied. "Diana. Alfred. What can I do for you?"

"Would you know where Bruce had gone off to?"

"Bruce? I thought he was with you?"

"He was last night. Now no one knows where he is. Can you lock into his transponder?"

"One moment, Diana" Oracle typed a series of commands on her computer. "It says here, he should be with you."

"Dear, me". Alfred said.

"Could he have taken the Deep-Wing to go probing the abyss?"

"And where would he go, Diana?" _Bruce, where are you? _Barbara Gordon asked herself.

"Bruce, where are you off to again?" Diana asked quietly. Both Alfred and Oracle heard her and the worry in her voice.


	6. ticking clock

:ticking clock 

**CALCULATOR BEGAN** upon Luthor's instructions activating sleeper cells across the world. Lex Luthor had provided him a very long list of targets- all surprisingly with weapons and resources available for use.

One particular shipment was due to arrive at Manila. He had hacked into the Manila Airport security. Typically, radioactive material would be screened by the destination and departing country's respective nuclear safety agencies not to mention the carrier or ship. This was as per International Atomic Energy Agency policy but it also made very good sense. Calculator had bypassed it. A shipment of Cesium-137- which happens to look like sand was in bound into Philippine territory.

What makes this particular batch of Cesium-137 special is not its 30-year half-life neither the fact that this could be used to prevent such disease like graft-versus-host disease which is 99 fatal nor that it could be used in such benign and worthwhile application as self-transfused blood during surgery but the fact it could be employed in a deadly mission.

Lex Luthor had such a deadly mission in mind. Calculator was being paid millions to coordinate these attacks.

One of Calculator's computers was trying to crack the attack codes to Russia's nuclear arsenal. He did not know that Luthor had even known the stuff he was handing him. Calculator did not suspect the real source of this intelligence. Neither he nor Lex Luthor could fathom- they were mere pawns in a chess game.

In Europe, the terrorist cells he had activated were moving towards the German rail line. By tomorrow morning thousands would be deadd when the train will derail.

In the United States, David Cain had arrived with instructions from the Calculator. His order of business was to shadow the President of the United States and at the moment given, take him out.

Unknown to either the Calculator and Luthor, Nyssa's League of Assassins had taken over the international space station. They had murdered the astronauts manning it. They were anxious to get the _Enterprise _ready to fly. Likewise they were preparing for their part of the mission as Al Ghul commanded.

**ROBIN HAD** been ordered by Cyborg to take a break. He and the Titans were working nonstop for the bast 48 hours building new shelters and providing food and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Tsunami victims. They were also cross matching the missing with those in the hospitals. Not to mention the dead.

With Wonder Girl and "S" shields having returned from the Aceh Incident, their work quickened. They were in fact a bit ahead of schedule. Relief workers had relieved them. IRO had given the Titans a twenty four hour downtime.

Robin didn't know what to do with himself. Being a member of the Bat-Family meant having training others didn't. Like learning to sleep without sleeping. It took hours of training, end even years before Bruce had opened up and told him one of his secrets. Apparently, Nightwing had been convincing Bruce for months before that to teach Robin the trick.

Barbara was furious when she discovered Bruce had this technique years ago but didn't teach her.

By the time Cassandra Cain, the Batgirl had joined their family, he was already an expert at sleepless nights gig. Then he learned that Batgirl knew of it since she was twelve.

Of course, Bruce had forbidden them all to use that kind of training unless they had too. So they had to manage the usual eight hours sleep when things were not too busy.

These days, he didn't want to sleep as often. The nightmares would come back again.

Like before, he convinced himself that forgetting was the best way. Telling the Titans that his father had passed away did little to easy the pain, Robin later found out. But it didnt make it easier, he argued with himself. It didn't however make him sleep any easier at night. He was still haunted by his dad's, Darla's and Steph's deaths. They passed away days of each other.

He still resented Bruce for not telling him about Steph. He could have been there for her, at least in those final moments. Bruce refused to tell him what they spoke about. Leslie wouldn't even speak of it to him. Apparently, she wasn't in the room when Stephanie passed. Alfred confirmed Leslie's account. He could trust Alfred, even more than Bruce.

But it doesn't ease the pain.

Robin had been avoiding Raven all week. He knew she was feeling his emotions. Right now, he didn't want those emotions taken from him. That was a mistake. He didn't want the pain to go away. He wanted to feel them because somehow, he might forget they were ever alive.

Wonder Girl saw Robin leave Titan's Wing. She saw him sit by a clearing near the shadows.

_There's something going on with Tim,_ Cassie thought. She walked towards him.

She was about to tap his shoulder when he spoke. "Yes, Cass?"

"Who'd!"

"I heard you twenty meters away".

Tim didn't even smile.

"Whats wrong, Tim? You've been preoccupied lately? Is it about your dad?" She asked as she sat right beside him.

Tim didn't even look at her. He continued to stare at the night sky.

"In Gotham, we rarely see the sky as clear as this one."

"Conner told me. Dismal place, your hometown." Cassie said. Then they sat there in silence for about a minute. "I wont press you, Tim if you don't want to talk about it..."

"It's my dad and it's not my dad".

When Tim looked at Cassandra's face, she was perplexed. "I never told you that a few days before my dad died, during the gang war... I lost two people I cared about."

Cassie shook her head in reply and let him continue. "Darla my classmate was shot and killed because she was the daughter of this mobster. My girlfriend, Stephanie... she... uhh..." Tim suddenly found it difficult to speak... "She was killed while attempting to escape Black Mask".

"I'm _so_ sorry Tim!" Was all Cassie Sandmark could reply. _What do you say to something like that? _

Cassandra thought how brilliant, thoughtful and all around good guy Tim was. Why were these things happening to him? She simply placed her arm around him and embraced him.

Tim didn't cry. Tim was all out of tears.

**ALFRED WALKED** into the Calcutta headquarters of the Batman. It was a small apartment building that Wayne Industries owned. In fact no one was sure what the top floor was used for.

Had they heard of the bogyman, they'd probably believe. It was a different sort of creature of the night.

The room, he noticed was kept untidy. Spare utility belts discarded. The bed unmade up. He was here quite recently, Alfred concluded.

Alfred had tried everything to find his lost charge. But to no avail. The Batwave receivers were all turned off. When Bruce Wayne didn't want to be found, chances are, you wouldn't.

As he was nearing completing tidying up the place, he noticed a note left for him. It was written in Bruce's handwriting using a "bat-code" only the family knew about. It was several instructions for him to do.

Alfred completed his work and rushed out to head back to the _Martha_.

**TALIA HAD** completed the buy out of the current majority stakeholders of Kord Industries. She had actually paid a premium for the company- triple its current market value.

Her shopping spree wasn't over though. She had bought several small yet promising companies doing software development, another doing artificial intelligence, another pharmaceutical company, an automotive manufacturing plant, and a defense contractor.

By the time Talia had stopped, she still had five billion dollars and change left. Of course her father's resources were still vast- there was some six billion dollars more that Nyssa didn't know. She'd keep that for a rainy day.

It was a nice winter day in Munich. Talia decided to take a walk amidst the snow, to kill time. She checked her watch. Another couple of hours left; Talia was expecting company.

**JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ** was a Mexican immigrant. His real name was Miguel Fuentes, from Basque, Spain who was an expert anti-virus software writer for a major American Corporation.

The Calculator had earlier provided the activation codes. He had his orders.

**ICQ CHATROOMS** were quiet of the events that are about to transpire. Which is a phenomena on itself.

**KIRO NAKAMURA** was an engineer working for A Japanese Entertainment company. The Calculator had cracked his way into his private ICQ channel. Instructions were given. Orders were confirmed to be carried out.

**LEX LUTHOR** had assembled the world's greatest- _villain_ was too hard a term. Grodd. Gigantina. Mr. Freeze. Captain Boomerang. Bizarro. Fatality. Major Force.

For Lex Luthor the threat posed by Superman and his ilk was too great. There must be an opposition to that do-gooder-Kryptonian. What if one day he would just decide to take over. Who was to stop him? The Batman? He laughed at that thought.

It was probably why neither he and the Batman saw eye to eye. They were a lot alike. Nor he doubted that Gotham scum didn't had a failsafe in place just in case his buddy ever went rogue.

Lex Luthor was a man determined never to lay his destiny on any other man other than himself. The Kryptonian stood in his way. In another lifetime, _he_ not that phony Kryptonian would be called the World's Greatest Superhero. Lex Luthor alone should be master of the Earth!

Nyssa had given him the means to destroy the Kryptonian and with the Army he would amass, Nyssa Al Ghul will never stand a chance against _his _Legion of Doom!

**CHARLIE LI** was a Major General in the People's Republic of Zek'nya Army. His computers were abuzz with intelligence reports that the South was amassing an army in the boarder ready to cross the Demilitarized Zone.

For nearly fifty years now, his country and the foolish Democratic Republic of Zek'nya were at war. Though the last shot was fired nearly five decades ago- neither had signed a peace treaty, so technically they were still at war.

When he saw that the the Zek'nya Defense Force was gathering its forces. From where he stood, they were readying themselves for war. Was the ZDF foolish enough to engage their 5 million strong, nuclear-armed army?

_If the fools wanted to fight,_ he would give them one, Li thought. _And end this unending stalemate! They will have the separatist by the end of this campaign! _

**NRO WAS** tasked to make a fly by of the Zek'nya theater. The computers automatically transmitted the images to Fort Meade and to Langley. When the watch officers from both operations center saw the amassing forces of the People's Republic of Zek'nya Army on the boarder of the demilitarized zone, they called their respective chiefs.

Two hours later, they both requested an intelligence meeting with the President. The Chief of Staff of the Ross White House had approved it. The CIA Zek'nya desk and his boss were in the Situation Room together with NMCC and NSA representatives.

They gave President Ross the same picture. The People's Republic of Zek'nya were making provoking postures that could cause the powder keg to blow up and eventually take the world by storm if left unchecked. It may even go Nuclear as the North and South both have stores.

President Ross looked at his watch. He had promised Lana a quiet dinner for two. It would have to wait. The world needed saving. In Lana's mind, he wouldn't be up to it. Deep down, it would be Superman who would save the world.

"Get me the Chairman of the People's Republic"

**ORACLE WAS** monitoring the intelligence channels. Her network still spanned the globe, even more so now that she'd left Gotham's Clock Tower.

Her server farm was tasked to index loads of information but special keywords were flashed to her. Zek'nya and nuclear in the same sentence would routinely prop up. But not this way. It had live pictures.

_Oh my God!_ Barbara's eyes lit.

**BRUCE HAD** been following Talia now for an hour and a half. Incogneto as an old graying man. She had gone for a walk and after exiting an upscale fashion boutique had settled in a cafe and ordered a latte. It was her favorite.

Ducking into a corner, the world's greatest detective shed his disguise. He walked and sat beside Talia even before she could look up.

"Hello, Talia," He said quietly.

"Her stench is all over you, _Beloved_." She said most especially the last word bitterly, without affection.

"I thought you wouldn't call me that anymore."

"I know, Bruce." Talia said as she stared directly into his eyes. "I guess, old habits die hard."

"You wanted me to find you. Why?"

"Indeed, direct to the point. Like you did in Metropolis when you had a different stink on you." She kept eye contact then said, "Nyssa is at the Arctic Circle Base."

"Why tell me this?"

"Because she is even more insane than father and will not hesitate to make good on both their plans. You already know what she did in the Indian Ocean."

"Yes."

"Then you know she must be stopped, at all costs." She was standing very close to him now. He could smell her perfume. He could see the truth in her eyes and hear the beating of their hearts.

The two star crossed lovers kissed.

Then Oracle buzzed in his ear. _Bruce!_ She was almost yelling. The surprised caught him off guard and this broke their kiss.

"O?"

"Thank, God B. I've intercepted satellite photos of the Zek'nya theater. The North is mobilizing its army. The South is responding. I'm getting a live feed from the White House."

Talia knew at once something was happening. What she dreaded was happening right now. She could see it in Bruce's face, even if others do not.

Oracle had funneled the hot line chatter into the encrypted comms.

Bruce heard, Pete Ross on the line. "Mr. Chairman, our satellites are seeing that your army is mobilizing."

"Yes, Mr. President. We are mobilizing as we see the south is doing the same. Order your lackeys in the South to fall back or we will respond in kind."

"Mr. Chairman, we have no authority to order the Zek'nya Defense Force to fall back- and even if we could your posturing is-"

"Mr. President, forgive me for saying. Are you calling me a lier?" At the other end of the line, Pete Ross thought, _Good move Pete, you've just antagonized the b-. _His thoughts were distracted when he heard the dial tone at the other end of the line.

"**GET IT BACK!" **Pete Ross angrily ordered his staff as he slammed the phone down. Nuclear war was imminent. He just lost touch with the guy who would help him back off. Now the other guy might think he disconnected on purpose and there go the negotiation.

**THE CHAIRMAN** of the Communist Party that led the People's Republic of Zek'nya was furious! He had never heard such arrogance in his life, he thought. The American President was lying to him and Ross had the urge to call _him _a lier? The fool! The Chairman thought, _they will all see!_

**OUTSIDE THE **Chairman's Office, Cherry one of the Chairman's close personal secretary, who worked for him round the clock sat running through the day's email. She was a very pretty Chinese woman, with the right set of curves and white flawless skin. A real beauty queen material. She was university trained and very intelligent, thoughthe Chairman rarely used that part of her.

Cherry felt someone staring down at her and when she looked up, standing before her a very bald American. She found him to be a very handsome man in a well pressed business suit. He handed her his card.

Her eyes lit up- Cherry thought she recognized him.

It read "Lex Luthor".

"I was wondering..."

"'Cherry', Mr. Luthor"

"I was wondering, Cherry, If I could have a word with your boss? He's an old friend of mine." Luthor said with a smile.

"Yes sir, one moment sir," Blushing, the young Chinese beauty in accented English replied.

"Mr. Chairman, a Mr. Lex Luthor is hear to see you."

"LEX LUTHOR! Have him come in!"

Lex walked into the Chairman's office.

"Lex!" The Chairman said as he greeted the man and shook his hand. "That bastard former Vice President of yours, how did you ever bring him along? His nothing like you! Just called me a lier! The arrogant bastard even had the nerve to hang up on _me_!"

"Old Friend," Lex said as he shook the older man's hand.

"I know what you need right now."

The two men conversed for a good half hour and came into a mutual agreement.

**BRUCE LOOKED** at Talia and their eyes spoke volumes.

"It's starting."

"I know, Beloved. "I do not know of her exact plans- when and where she will strike. But you know the endgame is nearing. I only know that she is at the Arctic Circle base and she will use her nukes to melt the ice caps."

He kissed Talia. She whispered in his ear the coordinates to the base. After she was done with that and providing him with what she knew about the security there, he broker their hug and said, "Goodbye, Talia".

"Good Luck, my Beloved." She replied.

Talia watched him leave and melt into the crowds. Bruce Wayne was such a remarkable man. He was indeed her father's equal and more.

Talia understood his relentless pursuit. It was in his blood. She understood that more than anything in the world, Bruce Wayne could give up the cowl in an instant but then, how would he ensure that the people he loved were protected? That was at the very heart of Bruce Wayne. She did not mean the Batman because to her, unlike any other person even the man himself, Bruce Wayne is the real person- the playboy and the Crusader were but masks of the real man.

**ORACLE DIDN'T** mean to hear the conversation but Bruce never called the channel off as he said good bye to Talia.

Then his voice ran through her.

"O. Inform A, open WG-file thirty-five-zulu. Spread the word, Arctic Circle variation."

At once Oracle opened a channel to Alfred Pennyworth who was at the mobile Batcave in the Indian Ocean. Upon relaying instructions from Bruce, Alfred immediately opened the necessary War Game file. It was a Ra's Al Ghul Battle Scenario- Antarctica Base. It listed the necessary supplies needed.

Alfred immediately opened access to this file for Oracle, Batgirl, Nightwing to see. He also used the Batcomputer's massive database to correlate the necessary equipment for the operation with Bruce's added instructions.

Alfred discovered that a storehouse was available for use in Greenland and that the necessary equipment- bombs, weapons, fuel, etc. were in a Wayne Industries facility in Montreal Canada. Nightwing and Batgirl were tasked to transport the equipment to the rendezvous point.

**BRUCE WAYNE** was headed to Sweden to pickup their additional gear. Aboard the Wayne Industries G9 Business Jet, his JLA Signal device lit up.

"Bruce! Where are you?"

"On a case,"

"This is a JLA Emergency. I just got a call from Pete Ross. The PRZ is mobilizing their army- headed for the DRZ.

Just then Oracle interrupted and called for a Priority Alert!

**TWO SPEED** boats were racing out of the Manila Yacht club. Aboard them were shoulder mounted rockets filled with Cesium-137. They changed coarse at once and headed for the United States Embassy that faced Manila Bay.

Outside the embassy, a black, gasoline-TNT-filled-to-capacity SUV parked right outside the US Embassy. It was not unusual, the stop light lit "red". A five kiloton uranium bomb was also hidden inside it.

The road in front of the US mission in the Philippines was a busy highway. Right across the street was a hotel filled with tourists that had just arrived from Korea.

The driver of the SUV when the green light lit stopped the SUV right in between the Embassy and the hotel. He walked out of the vehicle and immediately boarded a taxi that was a few meters away.

As the taxi sped away, the driver of the SUV activated dialed a number on his mobile phone. A marine corps team standing watch over the US consulate walked over to the park SUV to have the driver move it. They assumed that there was a driver because the engine was still running. A Police Car patrolling the area saw it and decided to lend a hand to the marines as a mobile phone in the SUV began to ring.

A timer sequence was initiated by the call. It started to countdown.

Rockets from the shoulder mounted launchers flew over Manila Bay and hit the embassy! The radiation was spreading unknown to embassy staff.

As the first Marine was about to knock on the SUV's driver side window to talk to the driver, several explosions then a column of smoke lifted up the Embassy's bay side view. The alert sounded in their ears and his team turned away from the SUV, the 5 kiloton bomb hidden deep within it blew up.

They and several hundred people in the blast radius didn't know what hit them. Glass shattered, trees, pavement, vehicles and human flesh melted away.

"**SUPERMAN, ASSEMBLE** the League! Now! I'll brief you when you've gathered." Bruce said. He switched his plan's systems to auto pilot and made his way aft the plane to put on his uniform.

He had a shrewed idea on what Nyssa was up to. Of course, he couldn't tell the Justice League the whole plan, even if he wanted to. He needed them focused. Either of them should fail, then the Human Race would fall. He could already imagine meeting his mentor Ra's Al Ghul in the afterlife, laughing at his defeat.

Bruce Wayne vanished these thoughts from his mind as he waited for Superman's confirmation that The League was ready.

Reaching for a flash recorder in his utility belt, he added some field notes and plugged it on the desktop computer aboard his plane, his rsync program ran. The file would later be sent encrypted, of course to the Batcave and relayed to the right set of people at the appropriate time.

**NYSSA LOOKED** up at the globe before her. It was like one huge chess piece. She knew the Justice League's next moves- they were after all, so very predictable. All her enemies were.

She figured out that by this time that traitorous sister of hers would have already contacted the Detective. No- it would be the detective seeking her out after deducing that very obvious ambush at the watchtower. He was predictable that way.

Nyssa's father had left detailed files and scores of case notes on the Batman, the Great Detective, the man who had betrayed her father.

Bruce Wayne she discovered was one of her father's prized pupils. He had trained him. Bruce Wayne, she learned from Ra's had travelled the world, lost after his parents' murderer was left fee. Heartbroken by Gotham's betrayal, he left his beloved city and scoured the globe. Ra's Al Ghul had found him in a Chinese prison. He had purposely tried to steel a Wayne Industries vault. He recruited Wayne and brought him to the Himalayan retreat.

Ra's Al Ghul tested him. Trained him in the ways of the League of Assassins. Wayne had by that time already learned many martial arts skills. He was already a scientist, a detective- having studied with the best in the world. But Wayne was lost. Unable to find a purpose.

Ra's Al Ghul channeled it all! Channeled Wayne's rage, gave his fury direction and thought him the powerful weapons of theatricality and deception!

What did the fool do when Ra's offered him the chance to lead his legion against the world? The ungrateful bastard had shun the Demon's Head's most generous offer! He did the unspeakable, defied the Demon's Head, battled her father, destroyed their mountain retreat and escaped. The second time they met, defied all expectation and won!

Ra's Al Ghul will cleanse the Earth of the human filth! She would avenge her father. The Batman will fall and with his passing, the rest of the world will join him in the afterlife.


	7. crisis point

:crisis point 

**THE JUSTICE LEAGUE**had assembled in the Watchtower. They watched idly by as the world was reaching a crisis point. The People's Republic of Zek'nya was the world's fastest growing nation. Much of the world economy relied on trade with this communist nation. Its sister- the Democratic Republic of Zek'nya likewise a powerhouse though slightly smaller in economic terms held a substantial stake in the world economy. Both countries have been in technical war for over fifty years. Now their armies stood eye-to-eye- a moment away from all out war.

Both armies are held back only by a Demilitarized Zone. From the Satellite photographs, it wasn't going to last long. The United Nations had called on both nations to back off- yet neither would for fear the there would launch a strike.

The massive military might of the United States was poised to intervene. But with whom? The North- the People's Republic was one of its biggest trading partner. The South- the Democratic Republic was supported politically, economically and militarily by the United States and considered it an ally; they had fought world wars together. How can they be an impartial entity?

In Manila, just a few thousand kilometers away from the Zek'nya Demilitarized Zone, terrorists attacked the United States Embassy, killing most of the staff and personnel of the embassy, including the top three posts. The blast radius was limited to the surrounding area, but the nuclear explosion also killed thousands of people around the busy intersection, including tourists and damaged the ecosystem of Manila Bay.

Six members of the Justice League sat on their massive round table. It was Camelot. The seat to Diana's left was vacant. It was the Batman. As the League sat, Superman activated his comm.

"Batman?"

Instantly the massive holo-generators of the Watchtower lit up. A mini holographic half-body projection of the Dark Knight appeared at the League's conference room table.

"Justice League: the stakes are much higher than you realize," The Batman said without preamble.

"Much higher than World War Three?" Superman asked for all of them.

"Planetary destruction is that high enough?" The Batman grumbled. He continued with his briefing.

"Ra's Al Ghul has set this in motion, from the Tsunami attack as well as the stand off in Zek'nya. Nyssa, Al Ghul's daughter acquired two nuclear bombs. She has already set off one in the Indian Ocean. There will be another. Intelligence from Talia Al Ghul-"

"Wait, intelligence from _Talia _?" Wonder Woman queried with her eyebrows and voice raised.

"Talia was instrumental in confirming my suspicions. The Worm-Virus attacks on the Watchtower and the entire Earth monitoring system, the Earthquake-Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the terror attacks in Aceh, in Manila, the conflict in Zek'nya- all are part of a master plan to, in Talia's words, '_cleanse_' the Earth."

"Nyssa plans to destroy the world?"

"In a nutshell Flash, yes".

"This isn't some raving of a madwoman is it?" The Speedster added.

"Apparently, it was one of Ra's many plans. Nyssa wants to take it to the next level. There will be several more attacks to come unless she's _stopped_."

"Then the full force of the League will be there. What are the coordinates, we can teleport-"

"No." The Batman flatly said.

"What! We're going to stand by while the world's in danger-"

"_Superman_: take the League to Zek'nya and hold both sides, stem the lost of life at all cost! Be warned: Nyssa will have anticipated us there. She will have a counter-play in place long before we meet her in Battle. **Do**. **Not**. **Hold**. **Back**."

The Batman activated a special frequency and Oracle appeared on the League's monitor.

"Oracle, coordinate through _Aerie One _and activate _all _reserve members, deputize the Outsiders, the Titans, Supergirl and the JSA as per JLA By Laws and Global Threat Alpha-Level Protocols."

The Man of Steel was about to say something but something told him, it was time to hold his tongue.

"The word has gone out." Oracle confirmed.

"Call the family and I'll need Canary. Have Huntress do scenario-three-eight-zero-nine. Brief her with instructions I left you." The Batman ordered.

"Done, B. BG and R are en route to Point M to pickup the package and rendezvous with N. N has already secured the area as per your instructions. H is already in play and is carrying out orders. BC, I'm sending her command codes for Point M. The Family will be in play when you need 'em, boss."

"Good," The Batman commanded her, "Open a channel to all League members." In an instant, Oracle had done what she was instructed. Across the planet, The Dark Knight had every Leaguer's ear available.

None of the League members complained neither did they mind nor given notice that their least powerful but deadliest member had just assumed command of the entire Justice League.

"Oracle," The Batman turned to the Martian Manhunter, "J'onn, station teams all over the planet. Get Faith, Major Disaster, Jason Blood, Zatana and Captain Atom and have them join Superman's team. Activate other heroes if you have to- give them all signal devices. Get someone to man the Watchtower. _We _must be ready to shift the battle, to act and react when and where Nyssa takes us. J'onn, Oracle- we look to you to keep us all connected how well we coordinate will mean success or defeat. She will find a way to disrupt our comms. Do not let that happen!"

The Batman's holographic image turned to the Amazon Queen. "_Diana, Superman _will have to do without you in the field of battle. _I_ need you at the UN- use your diplomatic skills- hold the line there."

"Batman- Superman will need me especially if-." Diana began to argue.

The Batman's features softened— but only Diana and Clark could notice. And that more than anything else made them accept his idea.

"_Diana_, with the exception of Arthur only _you_ have the diplomatic nuisances down. It is up to you to rally the human race together. That will be your duty."

As if that settled the issue, the Batman looked to Aquaman. "Arthur, I will not ask you to second Superman- you must keep an eye on the seas around Zek'nya. The People's Republic Army's Navy is the second biggest in the World and they have nuclear launch capability. J'onn, you must second Superman in battle, back him up."

The League members nodded their acceptance of their duties.

The Batman looked into each member of the League as he spoke. "_Justice League_: The world must stand together, as we do! Wage battle regardless of cost, do _not _hold _anything _back! Stem the lost of life, at _all _cost! There will be _no _tomorrow if we fail!"

It was Superman who faced him. "And where will you be?"

The Batman said in a voice that evoked fear in every Leaguer listening, "I'll take care of Nyssa".

"Get to work Justice League!" The Batman growled. The Batman disconnected the line.

**THE HEROES **had moved into play. The Watchtower was a buzz with activity. The Atom was brought from his self-imposed exile and brought to command the Watchtower. Superman and his team: John Stewart, Flash, Arthur, Plastic Man, J'onn J'onzz, Captain Atom, Faith, Major Disaster, Jason Blood, Manitou Raven and Zatanna gathered and prepared to make a dramatic entrance at the Zek'nya DMZ.

Wonder Woman had already left the Watchtower and arrived at the United Nations.

As per Oracle's and J'onn's instructions, the Justice Society, the Outsiders, and the Teen Titans took their positions all across the planet. They were in place to thwart Nyssa as her actions happened. The Martian Manhunter was the last member of Superman's team to depart the League's lunar headquarters.

Batman's family had gathered in Montreal. They were the world's most elite strike force, expert martial artists all: Robin, Batgirl and Black Canary. The Team was led by Nightwing.

The Family boarded a transport filled with Arctic Circle gear, weapons, batarangs, maps, comms, and food and water. It was a mobile fortress called the _Flying Wing_. It had tactical relays to every member of the League and a direct patch to the Batman.

**THE BATMAN** was already nearing his target over the Arctic Circle. Aboard his aircraft was the world's most advanced command and control system. From here he could direct the entire battle for the Earth. It was even more advanced than the technology _Aerie One_ was carrying.

With each Leaguer carrying a signal device, he could identify where the pieces were and deploy accordingly. Having hijacked Earth Monitoring Systems and with the link up to the Watchtower, the Batman knew were the opposition was.

The new Batsuit he was wearing had a link up to his mobile Batcave. He could at a moment's notice coordinate the attack even when not aboard the aircraft.

The Batman was determined to win this battle at all cost. Ra's Al Ghul's evil must finally be placed to rest as he was. The Dark Knight vowed, he would do anything and everything to make that happen.

**SUPERMAN'S TEAM **had arrived from on high over the DeMilitarized Zone like gods descending from Mount Olympus. He and J'onn had already spoken. He would meet with General-Major Charlie Li, Commanding General of the People's Republic Army while J'onn and John Stewart would talk some sense into the Nationalists' Freedom Force.

The Man of Steel floated towards the People's Republic's side of the DMZ. He could see young boys- barely eighteen years old shivering in the cold night, _probably not only because of that_. He thought.

A battalion had started to wave their cannons and rifles at him.

He held his hand and in Zek'nya he spoke to them loud enough for everyone to hear. "I come in peace. I just want to talk with Comrade General-Major Li."

A young man he saw who carried the rank of Field-Captain approached him. "You could be sent here to kill him. How can we trust you?"

"You don't. Had I wanted to kill him, I wouldn't be asking you permission to talk to him. I'd just do it. And all you here, would be there to meet him in the afterlife."

The Captain told him, "Follow me."

**J'ONN AND JOHN **approached the Nationalists' command and control base. General Sammy Chang was waiting for them in his command centre.

As they entered the Southern Zek'nya centre of command, General Chang greeted them warmly.

"Good! The Justice League! With you around we can make little work of these Northerners."

"General, we did not come here to assist you. We came here to persuade you not to engage in battle," Stewart said.

"What! Can't you see those tanks out there?"

"Yes we can. Superman is out there talking to General-Major Li to hold his ground as well." J'onn J'onzz replied.

"Don't count on it." The General responded.

**TALIA ARRIVED** at Wayne Manor on time. The gates to the huge mansion (though it looked like a castle now befitting an English lord since Bruce renovated after the quake, which was twice now more than any of his ancestors since taking up residence there) opened. Alfred was expecting her.

The butler had greeted the young woman at the door and as the Wayne Industries driver unloaded her luggage and brought them through the door, Alfred greeted her. "Madam, it is good to welcome you, though it could have been under better circumstances."

"Thank you Alfred!" Talia's eyes showed that she meant it. "Bruce had always spoken highly about you."

"Indeed." The butler replied. "Shall we get you settled in?"

The young woman nodded and Alfred ushered her inside, past the old grandfather clock and into the fortress below. Half an hour later, he had retrieved her belongings and joined in the cavern beneath the manor. He then activated the security locks and the Cave and Mansion above went into Lock down.

Alfred and Talia had enough food and water to last them a full year beneath the mansion. The Cave was self sufficient.

As Alfred had returned, he found his new charge in the Manor's owner's chair. She was watching intently as the Justice League went into action. No words crossed between them but when their eyes met. Alfred knew she was rather worried.

"They will succeed, Miss Talia."

**_AERIE ONE'S _**receivers had connected with Wonder Woman's comm. "Oracle,"

"Is there any word from Batman?" Diana asked without preamble.

"None."

"Tracking his location?"

"Yes,"

"Can you tell me where?"

"Diana... I won't tell you. He gave us all orders- any other time I'd even break 'em but Your Highness, we're on the brink of extinction. He needs you to focus at the battle at hand."

"I know. I was being foolish."

_The Amazon Queen foolish? _Barbara asked herself.

"He'll be fine, he always is".

"He's only human, Barbara." She was worried. "Wonder Woman out." The line crackled off.

To no one, Barbara Gordon the Oracle said in retrospect, "Apparently, we all just are."

As instructed by Bruce, she initiated her own part of the plan. _Aerie One_ was in the upper atmosphere. She had purposely tapped into League of Assassins frequency. She chose a frequency that the Assassins would know about. And one they had just recently discovered. She began to play her own tape. It was Bruce giving instructions.

_NIGHTWING! Bruce growled over the airwaves. Its up to you son. You will have to take Nyssa down. Good Luck. _

_Roger that. Oracle, are we go for launch? _

_Ready for flight Nightwing. _Oracle's voice piped into the League frequency.

_Birds and the Bat are in the air. _

**NIGHTWING HAD** his orders. He was to take the Family into a frontal assault of the League of Assassins' base; not the easiest thing in the world mind.

They had done it slowly.

Batgirl slipped past a guard and knocked him unconscious. Robin followed with a kick to another pair in the far corner. Black Canary was backing him up.

They had split into two teams- He and Batgirl, Robin and Black Canary. Of course, it was obvious why he did it. The younger members of his team were backed up by more experienced warriors. Batman would have planned it that way.

His orders were simple. Make as much damage, as much noise as possible. Their secondary objective was to destroy the submarine carrying the nuclear bomb. It was set to melt the Arctic Circle ice cap. The resulting accelerated rise in sea level would be an ecological disaster. That on top of all the things Nyssa had on the board right now, would ultimately spell a long protracted dying for the human race.

It took a good twenty minutes until they were discovered. The gun shots and the klaxon blazing in their ears was the telltale signal.

"DOWN!" He yelled at Robin as a Batarang flew from his hand and hit a guard in the face and in his gun arm. At his back he knew Batgirl was covering for him as another fell to the ground in a thud.

"Be more careful, little bro." The kid didn't deserve it but Nightwing was concerned for the boy. He turned to Batgirl. "Thanks, Little sis."

"No problem".

"Enough Chatter, Nightwing, we're moving! I see the sub- three levels down." Black Canary barked.

"Yes, mom." He got a glare from her. _What did Babs ever see in you?_She muttered under her breath.

"I'm charming." Was all he said giving her a smile. Nightwing had heard her.

**THE BATMAN'S** newest toy was running three generations above current clock technology. Even _Aerie One_ didn't have this kind of tech. He made a mental note to increase Hiro Okumura's pay when he got back.

The Dark Knight dropped from the sky completely undetected as he heard the first explosion from the compound. Nightwing and his team were in place half an hour ago. They were making good headway. His job was to slip in and directly engage Nyssa.

Everything was going according to plan. In his ears, he had set his channel to primarily listen to Superman's team. That was the major crisis point they were dealing with. But that didn't worry the Batman as much as not knowing if Nyssa had more things up her sleeve.

"**COMRADE GENERAL-MAJOR"** Superman greeted the commanding officer of the People's Republic Army in Zek'nya.

"Superman! We meet again".

"Yes, its been awhile since the Nuclear Summit."

"Have you come to aid us in battle old friend?"

"I've come to ask you to hold your ground- no matter what orders you receive. The League is here to stem the loss of life".

"That is too bad." The man said in plain unaccented English.

"Too bad?" Superman's face was questioning as he replied.

"He meant, Its too bad he lost a simple wager, _Krytonian_!" Lex Luthor in full battle armor crashed out of a hidden wall and hit Superman knocking him out of the bunker and a mile away.

Dark evil laughter could be heard.

The People's Republic Army broke through the Demilitarized zone and the Justice League was shocked to see Superman falling from the sky and heralding the march of the PRA.

**THE NATIONALISTS** were surprised at the attack.

Sammy Chang looked passed his monitors and ordered his men to engage.

As he walked passed the Martian and the Green Lantern he angrily growled, "Choose sides, now!"

The Leagues rushed out of the bunker and arrived a few seconds after the other League members who was helping Superman up.

They they were there. Gathered as a force from hell's heart itself. Lex Luthor. Grodd. Cheetah. David Cain. Reverse Flash. Mr. Freeze. Bizzaro. John Corbin (in a new battle suit). Fataly. Mongul. The Axis of Evil on their flank.

"Hello, Martian! Now DIE!" As Luthor fired a shot from his gauntlets and hit J'onn J'onzz squarely in the chest, knocking him out. All hell broke loose then. It was all out war.

The Legion of Doom was a force from hell itself. They acted in concert with each other. Freeze firing his gun not caring who he hit, Grodd when after the battered Martian, Cheetah engaged Faith. And Bizzaro? He just went crazy.

The snow had turned into blizzard by then. The winds grew mightily.

"JUSTICE LEAGUE!" Superman yelled over the comm, "HOLD THE LINE!" As he accelerated and hurled himself at Luthor. Lex's armor-shields held their ground.

The People's Republic's Army was engaging the South's. The League could not contain the fighting. They were preoccupied with living.

The Legion of Doom were relentless in their attack. John Stewart thought, this may be the day the League fell as Bizzaro hit him, crushing his Power Ring-created Shields.

Reverse Flash and The Flash were hitting each other at mach 10 speeds. The sonic booms echoed all over. They actually took the fight global. Hitting, kicking throwing things as they ran across the planet, over seas, above mountains. Each punch, a sonic boom in itself.

The battle between the Legion of Doom and the Justice League, was Armageddon on Earth.

**JONATHAN RODRIGUEZ **had activated the worm-virus. It had a two fold purpose- activate Russia's nuclear arsenal. The virus that League of Assassin operatives had planted months before enabled them now to be in the hands of one woman- Nyssa Al Ghul.

In Russia's Command and Control Station, the General in command was shocked at what was happening. Russia's nuclear missiles were arming. Selecting appropriate targets across Europe and the United States.

Jonathan Rodriguez also used his backdoor access to send traffic, power and Internet traffic in the North American continent into a sprial towards hell.

Cars rammed each other as traffic signals went to hell. Power fluctuated on and off. There was panic in the streets.

**THE JSA** were on the case saving lives as the world went crazy around them.

**THE GENERAL **got into the line with his President. "He was frantic."

"I do not know how it happened, sir. The missiles are armed! Launch in five minutes! There can no stopping it."

The President of the Russian Federation, picked up the emergency hotline to US President Pete Ross.

"Mr. President, as of two minutes ago, Russian Ballistic Arms had been activated by forces unknown. They are launching. We have no way of knowing how to stop them."

Pete Ross' face went ashen. He was in the middle of an Intelligence briefing already. They just heard that all hell went loose in the DMZ.

"Get me Superman, NOW!"

"**JLA CRITIC!" **Oracle's voice boomed in Batman's ears as he subdued two of Nyssa's troopers. Another level and he would engage Nyssa.

"B! Russian Ballistic weapons have been co-opted. Virus. I've seen the code. They are on launch. JLA JSA are unavailable to engage. Orders?" She was loosing it, Bruce could tell.

"Focus, O! Get the Titans, and the Outsiders to take care of it. Have Supergirl join Cyborg's team!"

**WONDER WOMAN **heard Bruce's commands over the Signal Device. She was half tempted to fly out. She and the UN had brought both Zek'nya delegates on the table.

They were flying accusations at each other. Fifty years of pent up anger was finally let loose and they were not about to be boxed back in. Wonder Woman could understand. Then an idea formed in her mind.

"Oracle!" She called to her ear. "Yes, Wonder Woman?"

"I need a live feed of the DMZ action. I also need a live feed of every engagement we are on- fed to the general assembly and fed live on every house and every monitor on the planet."

"You'll have it in five minutes."

"Make it happen." The Amazon Queen turned to the Secretary General. "I want to speak with the entire assembly. Gather them. This _ends _now."

_Bruce was right, this was **her** place. _

**TITANS AND OUTSIDERS** flew as fast as they could. The Atom was feeding them coordinates from the Watchtower of every missile on target.

Supergirl, Superboy and Wonder Girl engaged them as quickly as possible. Scattering to all points across the planet.

Victor Stone, Beast Boy were on the air, frantic in their quest to destroy every missile before they even reached the ground.

Elsewhere, The Outsiders too were on the move. Directed by the Watchtower, Jade and Starfire's team were up in the air.

In every heart and in every mind, they had one thought and swore. "None shall pass".

**TALIA Al GHUL** as she sat idly by watching the world around her in the brink of death. She reached into the control panel that activated the Batcave's massive systems and linked it up with the Watchtower and _Aerie One_.

"What the-Who is this!" Oracle's voice boomed into the Cave's gigantic speakers, frightening the bats above.

"Talia. Let me help."

"WHAT! You're in the _Cave_?" Oracle's startled and frightened voiced filled the cavern.

"And Alfred, Miss Barbara". That calmed Barbara up. Alfred was home and by the tone of his voice everything was all right.

"Let us help." He said and Oracle delegated JSA-operations to the Batcave.

**A VERY LOUD** explosion broke the gigantic metal doors that protected the cavern chamber of Nyssa Al Ghul.

"NYSSA!" The Batman's voice boomed with every anger, every fury his body had. "This ends _here_!"

"Detective," She greeted him rather warmly.

"I see my dear sister had betrayed me completely. She was always in love with you."

"Call it off Nyssa."

"What?"

The Batman glared at her.

"_This_?" As she pressed a button on her chair. The entire chamber was filled with monitors- every action on the planet was being fed to them. The Justice League battling the Legion of Doom, the Armies of the Zek'nya engaged in mortal combat. The JSA rescuing lives, the Russian Missiles being destroyed by the Titans and the Outsiders.

"Glorious isn't it?" She was thrilled and laughed evily. "It is time to cleanse the world of its filth, Detective!"

The Batman launched himself at her, flying in the air. Nyssa blocked him as expertly as Ra's did. "Uuhh," She uttered as she her sidekick hit him in the chest.

"UBU!" She summoned the biggest baddest Ubu. "I'm sure Detective that you would find this one a match. He comes with a modified Venom-Lazarus-Pit alchemy potion." And her mad laughter filled the cavern.

"As an added motivation, she activated a button, "My submarine's nuclear warhead has just been activated. fifteen minutes ought to be enough, don't you think?" She laughed again as The Batman went on the offensive against Ubu.

The pumped up Ubu easily deflected the blows the Batman sent him and countered with his own, hitting the Dark Knight squarely at his chest and sending him across the cavern.

The Detective fell with a huge thud.

"Oh and Batman?" Nyssa smiled as she activated a monitor connecting her to the International Space Station.

"No!" The Batman thought as he guess what was next on Nyssa's agenda.

**ISS WAS** passing across Asia. It would be over the Middle East in a few minutes. Nyssa's troopers aboard the station received a call from their Mistress.

"**EXECUTE MISSION,"** Was all the new Ra's Al Ghul had commanded. The League of Assassins began their preparation. Rockets were fired and the International Space Station with its nuclear reactors were in bound to crash land on the Oil Fields of the Middle East.

"FOR THE DEMON'S HEAD!" They said in unison as Nyssa closed the channel.

**THE BATMAN** heard the order confirmed and Nyssa displayed on screen as the massive station was falling to the Earth.

**WONDER WOMAN** stood at the podium of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow delegates, people of the world. This feed goes out to every monitor on the Planet as we speak." She pressed a button and live feeds from the battle raging across the Earth was displayed on the screen behind her and flanking her on either side.

"This is the planetary catastrophe we are facing. A woman named Nyssa plans to _cleanse_ the Earth and _kill_ us all. She has set this into motion," Images of Russian Ballistic Missiles were being destroyed by the Titans and Outsiders, scenes of traffic accidents and destruction across North America, young men dying in the fields of Zek'nya and the Justice League waging battle after battle.

"We are dying."

"**ORACLE!" **The Batman called on his comm as Ubu began to pound on him again. It was all Bruce could do to evade while his mind thought of other ways to take him down. Outside the chamber he could hear the explosions going on. The Family was destroying the base.

"ISS- uuhh" The Batman stopped as he took a direct hit in his solar plexus. "Falling-uhhh! Flash- Faith- Intercept it-uhhh" Ubu had hit him squarely on his face.

"Arabia-uhh" The Batman collapsed on the floor.

_How could he fight a Venom-powered warrior?_

**FLASH AND **Faith heard the Batman's orders.

Flash needed to disable Professor Zoom and he needed to do it now! Flash gave it everything he got, threw superspeed punches, kicks and ran circles around the Reverse Flash. Sonic Boom after Sonic Boom filled the area when both Professor Zoom and Flash hit each other at top speed. With the final boom Reverse Flash fell to the ground.

With Zoom out of the way, Wally West immediately raced to Faith's position. Faith was already flying off to engage the falling station. She knew she didn't have the speed to make it on time.

Faith saw Flash racing towards her. He carried her and they ran faster than she could imagine. They ran over land and over sea. Then Flash transferred all his speed into Faith and whispered to her, get ready and he threw her sky-way like a missile she soared towards the station.

She knew what the Batman wanted. The Fat Lady must sing!

The Flash dove into the sea. He thought he was a a dead super speedster. Aquaman had summoned a dolphin in the Area who picked him up and carried him to the surface.

The Lord of the Sea would intercept them soon.

"**THERE IS** only one way out," Wonder Woman said as the image being displayed on screen as a broken and beaten John Stewart fell from the sky and then Superman was brutally taking hits from Lex Luthor.

"**_We_**," Looking at each delegate, "_must stand together, **one** Planet, **one** United Earth_".

In her ear, Oracle fed through the system. _The International Space Station was falling to the Earth._

"Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, _I_ thank you for the opportunity- We must hastily depart. The International Space Station is in bound to Saudi Arabia and _We_ must do my part."

The Ambassador of Peace and the Master of War concluded, "_We_ trust," Wonder Woman said, "Each of **_you_** will do _your _part."

The Amazon Queen flew from the podium and raced to the sky. She must reach the Station in time before it fell to the Earth.

**ORACLE AND** Lady Blackhawk were rather preoccupied at the moment. The entire command and control system of _Aerie One _was being hijacked.

"Calculator!" Oracle hissed. As the artificial intelligence sentry was running through its paces.

Suddenly _Aerie One_'s cloaking drive fell out and they were completely detectable. _Aerie One _appeared in every People's Republic radar now. The General commanding the People's Republic Air Force immediately ordered an air strike. He thought it was an American aircraft spying.

PRAF conducting Barrier-Combat Air Patrol- their version anyway sprang to intercept.

Lady Blackhawk immediately saw this in her command board.

"Barbara! We've got incoming," She reported and attempted to activate the cloaking field. "No good on our cloak. No good on defense systems. I'm bringing our weapon systems online."

"Roger that, Zelda!" Oracle was busy hacking into the system. _Aerie's_ autonomic systems would take care of Calculator's viral infection. She was going after the man. He wanted a crack? He'd get it.

Cyber-War happened that moment. Oracle used the massive power of the Watchtower's systems, Earth Monitoring Stations and NASA computers to crack into Calculator's.

PRAF Mig-29s were coming into range. The lead flight had a targeting system fix on _Aerie One_. "Fox-One!" He said. "Fox-Two" he followed up a moment later. They stole that from the Americans.

"Barb! Incoming! Taking evasive action." Lady Blackhawk was the veteran of a world war. She wasn't just a pretty face, poster child. She was one of the world's best pilot. She was going to prove it again today.

_Aerie One_ banked left and dropped down, a thousand feet. The missiles followed her. Lady Blackhawk, fired chaffs and deployed the Electronic Countermeasures. The engines suddenly went to dead mode. Without the heat profile of _Aerie One_, The heat seekers went after the ECMS.

The autonomic systems suddenly alerted Oracle, _Excalibur _was back!

"Zelda! _Excalibur _is back, engage defense profile now!"

Lady Blackhawk didn't have to be told twice, using her own copy of _Excalibur_- _Aerie One_'s defense and combat control system, multiple copies of the aircraft appeared on the radar scopes of their enemies.

A minute later, she made the aircraft itself invisible again.

"YES!" Barbara cried from her station. Her sentries had penetrated the Calculator's system and cracked her way into it. She started stealing the calculator's files- but then he was already on his way for a counterattack. _Too bad, _Barbara thought. She just shut him off.

Calculator was off the 'net.

**UBU POUNDED** him again, but the Batman summoned more will, he was able to deflect the attack. From the corner of his eye, the Family had arrived. Robin had an awkward stand. Nightwing had a bleeding arm. Black Canary was limping and Batgirl was the only one who was more or less uninjured.

"Battle Positions!" He ordered his team members.

Seeing the Dark Knight in trouble, all four now honed in working together, launched their attack. Nightwing was directing each of their moves and like choreographed dancers, hit and kicked at Ubu.

"We'll take care of this," Nightwing told his mentor and father who was catching his breath.

The older man nodded and walked towards Nyssa. He knew Nightwing will take care of the rampaging Ubu.

"**SO DETECTIVE,** Its just you and me then?" As she drew her sword and threw one to the Batman. The clock behind her read, five minutes to launch, ten minutes to detonation.

The Batman did not reply. At the corner of his eye, he could see Diana racing to stop the falling station. He saw how the world's greatest heroes were holding the line. Then he saw it change. The Zek'nya armed forces were rallying to help the league against Lex and his team. The battle was turning their tide.

_Diana_ _had done it! _As he knew only the world's powers allied with the Justice League could save them all.

Superman had already recovered. He led the combined Justice League and Zek'nya Armies to do battle with the Legion of Doom.

"Its over Nyssa." The Batman said. "You've lost."

"Really? Then why don't you walk away from that nuclear bomb that's about to blow up?" Nyssa lunged her sword and the Batman deflected it expertly.

"My father thought you everything and you turned against him." As she drew the Batman's blood.

The Batman countered with his own attack and hit Nyssa on her left arm. Uuuh.

The two warriors clashed. Each trained in the same arts as Ra's Al Ghul. Each, were of even match. The Batman summoned all the training he had. He felt himself drawn into the motion, blocking everything else.

He did not even see it happen, he just did and his sword found its mark squarely on Nyssa's chest. "Ubu!" Nyssa called with all her remaining strength.

**UBU HEARD** his mistress call. And as Batgirl launched her devastating flying kick- which would have killed any other warrior, only Ubu fell to the ground. He had the presence of mind with the power of the Venom to stand again and disengaged from the battle.

Faster than his huge frame would normally allow a human being, he raced to his mistress' side and threw the Detective clear across the room.

"Mistress!"

"Home, Ubu, home." Then Nyssa fell into the darkness. Ubu activated a secret panel and he and Nyssa disappeared into it and the self-destruct sequence activated.

The base was imploding.

The Batman saw his family go after Nyssa and Ubu. He called them. "No!"

Nightwing turned to him as Robin and Batgirl got him to his feet.

"Nightwing, get everybody out now!" As he walked towards another tunnel that would take him to the submarine which was set to launch in two minutes.

"What about you?"

"There's still that nuclear warhead."

"We'll help."

"You have your orders." He glared at them. "Follow them."

The Batman left running towards the submarine as it began to move and submerge. Activating his suit's underwater mode, his grappler took him to a hatch right behind the bridge.

The Dark Knight broke into the sub.

"Alfred!" He opened a channel to the Cave.

It was Talia who answered him. "Beloved?"

"Talia, get Alfred on that chair. I need bomb-schematics." The Batman made his way to the launch site. Alfred already knew the Software.

It was indeed a bomb. 25 kilotons. Not enough but sufficient to accelerate an ecological disaster. He needed it stopped.

The clock was ticking as the submarine made its descent.

"One minute."

**FAITH WAS **nearing the target. If it crashed in Saudi Arabia, the resulting explosion would blow the oil and the pollution it would generate would kill millions- slowly. Not to mention affect the entire planet's ecosystem. It was going to be an extinction event.

Behind her, she caught a glimpse of Wonder Woman.

The Station was nearing, growing larger. Then when she was close enough that the sheering heat was nearing to overwhelm her, Faith let loose all the power in her.

The Fat Lady was singing.

Then it blew up. The International Space Station blew up like a big mushroom in the sky, scattering debris over the Persian Gulf coast.

The Station's billion pieces scattered and its friction and heat fell across the ocean. She had hope Aquaman would forgive her.

Deep in the sea, Aquaman had cleared the area near the Persian Gulf of sea life. He had already anticipated Faith's action. He was a bit peeved but there was no choice at the moment. His sea could take this.

From the distance, Wonder Woman flew faster than ever. The bandage wrapped around her face, she tore it out- it was becoming a nuisance and as the blinding flash of the exploding ISS shined across the horizon, somehow her retinas were healed! She could see again.

Wonder Woman felt the heat scorch her skin when she found Faith falling towards the Earth. She willed herself to fly even faster.

"**LUTHOR!" SUPERMAN** anger seething, yelled as he punched through the madman's shields and broke his jaw. His left arm connected with Lex's frontal shields, breached it and cracked his armor. Lex's blood gushed from his mouth.

Green Lantern sent his ring to imprison the Kryptonite that powered the armor and sent it burning into space.

With the power core gone, and the threat of Kryptonite past, Superman broke Luthor's armor, tore it piece by piece.

All around them, the Justice League was pounding their respective opponents. J'onn J'onzz had Mongul by the rope. Broken and battered, John Stewart was winning against Grood.

Superman's uniform was torn, his cape, he waved like a battle standard tattered but the "S" remained.

"This battle _ends _NOW!" Kal-El of Krypton cried out. The Man of Steel gave himself to battle. He summoned every ounce of strength in him and poured it all into his Heat Vision. Bizzaro was hit and he fell to the ground then Grodd, then Mongul. Superman was relentless.

The Justice League did not give the Legion of Doom gave any quarter. They were oblivious to the humans around them. It was Armageddon, Ragnarök on Earth and the Earth itself shook as they clashed.

**SUPERBOY WAS** after the last of the Russian Ballistic missiles. He flew faster and faster. It was headed for Kansas. He had met it head on in the Atmosphere. He fired his heat vision but for the first time- fatigue and stress made him miss. It hit the thrusters, it veered off Metropolis but the missile plunged into Grandville.

The Boy of Steel raced to stop it. Too late. The force of the nuclear blast sent him spiraling away. He wasn't able think about how he failed. Darkness embraced him.

**THE COWL** transmitted what he was looking at. The bomb was good. Alfred and Talia had transmitted what he needed to know. He was sweating.

_Ten seconds. _

The Batman had cut the green wire. Then the red. Then the yellow. The clocked stopped at one point five seconds, as it was meant to.

Oracle, Alfred and Talia could be heard on the comm sighing relief. As Bruce began to relax, C4 exploded across the sub, brining in the icy sea water into the ship.

For an instant, The Batman feared that the nuke had blown, but he would be dead now, if it did. He did not waste time, and raced out of the ship. He only had a minute at the most as Oracle reported from what she could see from satellite imagery.

The Batman made a decision. He wrapped his kevlar-weaved fire-proof cape around the nuclear device. He used his utility belt to lock it securely and attached his aqua-thrusters and batwave beacon to it.

_If it disappeared or blew up with the rest of the ship, it would all be for nothing. _He thought. The Dark Knight launched it at through the torpedo tube. Away it went.

The Batman looked around as the water was filling the ship in and he could feel the ship breaking apart. As the water piled up on him, he tried his comm- but the cowl was damaged somehow.

He activated his rebreather device as the water greeted him. _There must be another way out. _

**FAITH **plunged into the Earth as the International Space Station crashed into the sea. She thought she would die. She didn't have enough strength left to maintain flight.

Then she felt strong hands carry her.

It was Diana, smiling she had her sight back!

Then they heard it. Bruce was successful in stopping the nuke bomb. Then two seconds later- heard explosions across the sub, it was sinking into the icy Arctic Circle.

"BRUCE!" Diana whispered. The Amazon Queen carried Faith along and flew towards the Arctic Circle.

**NIGHTWING AND **the Bat-Family had taken to the sky. The Flying-Wing's shields would protect them from any nuclear fall out he knew. Then he saw the submarine explode blow as he heard the chatter in the comm.

"Bruce," he simply said.

**WAR DRUMS** had calmed. An exhausted Justice League took a moment to sit, to gather. The Justice League and triumph over the Legion of Doom.

Superman, seeing the devastation around them- the dead soldiers, the scorched earth, it robbed him of strength. J'onn J'onzz's hand fell on his shoulder.

"It's over, Clark. We won."

From a distance, they could see John Stewart, bruised and battered and probably with a hundred different broken bones, just like most of them, securing the Legion of Doom in Ring-created individual prisons. On another flank, Zatana was helping Captain Atom and Jason Blood to stand.

No hero died today.

As his ears were clearing, his comm was running back on track. Then he saw J'onn's face. Someone was dead. Dread fell into him.

"What? Who is it?"

Comms returned to the Justice League in the Zek'nya DMZ. They heard the anguish of their team members. Kal-El heard the pleas and cries, "Bruce".

"**BRUCE?" TALIA** kept calling over the comm. "Bruce! Answer Me!"

Every league member heard her pleas and the empty response from it. They were all holding on to their breaths. The Batman would always come through. _He always did._ They each thought the same.

_He was the world's greatest escape artist- OK close second to Scott Free. He always survived in the past, in more deadly situations. _

As the seconds mounted. No one would accept the fact. Then the submarine cracked open. Nightwing and the Family could see it from their aircraft. Oracle watched it from satellite imagery.

There was no sign of him.

**SUPERGIRL AND** Wonder Girl were dispatched on the site the Batman disappeared to summoned there by Oracle when she was certain no radiation was leaking in the area.

Superman was too weak to race this far. Diana had to take Faith to get looked after first. It took both of them a longer time to reach the site.

Supergirl used her X-Ray vision to scan. Then she heard it. A beacon was buzzing in her ear. Wonder Girl followed her. Suddenly the Girl of Steel plunged into the icy water.

She saw it.

It was the nuke with Batman's utility belt and cape wrapped around it.

But there was no sign of the Batman.

For a long time, Kara Zor-El hated hearing his heart beat because she believed he didn't really have one. Now all she wished for was to hear that steady beating heart. No matter how hard she tried, there was none.

_Was he really gone? _

**NIGHTWING SETTLED** the Family's aircraft on the icy patch. He could not believe he was dead. He looked into Tim's eyes. He hid his shock as well.

**ROBIN STARED **at Nightwing. He was in shock. Was he going to lose a father all over again in just the span of a few months?

**CASSANDRA CAIN** had unmasked herself. For only the third time in her life, tears were flowing from her eyes. The mighty ninja-warrior-princess couldn't help it. She could read the disbelief in her family's body language. Even Black Canary's eyes were filled with tears. Overhead she saw Wonder Girl land and hugged Tim.

Then something gave them hope. Supergirl came out of the icy water. They all thought it was Him. They could all see the shiny yellow belt glistering in the light.

But Cassie Cain knew better. She could read Kryptonian body language. The tears didn't stop flowing.

**ORACLE COMMANDEERED** satellites. She did not care if they traced her. She tasked them to find one man. All they found was the bat-wave transmitter in the utility belt. It was the missing nuke.

She tried tracing an active JLA comm. It was no good.

She tried the cowl's backup. Nothing.

The suit's— she doubted its signature ever could be traced. _Damn_ _Bruce and his paranoia! _ She thought.

All they found was the nuke. Her mentor did one last heroic act... Oracle couldn't even think the words. Didn't even expect it to happen, _ever_. He was the Batman after all.

**THE JUSTICE LEAGUE **had gathered in Nyssa's Arctic Circle base. Diana was in tears. J'onn J'onzz, in spite of his injuries and exhaustion, found strength to hold her steady.

Superman collapsed on his knees, he felt old and exhausted. One of his best friends was dead today.

**BLACK CANARY **had returned to the Watchtower hours later. Dr. Mid-Nite was doing triage. Her injuries weren't that great- only cuts and bruises and the Doc said he would look after her after the others. So Dinah lay beside Ollie who was still recuperating. He was going to make it.

"What?" He felt her tears.

"Bruce is dead."

"Nnooo..." Ollie said weakly, unbelieving. Dinah's tears didn't stop flowing.

**TALIA HAD **tears flowing in her eyes. Alfred had them too. They both embraced, freely letting the tears flow. His charge was most likely dead. For Talia, her beloved was dead. _Why did he choose to be a hero?_

Outside the Cave, night had descended once more on Gotham City.


	8. theatrics and deceptions

**:theatrics and deceptions **

**REMARKABLY, _ONLY_** three million world wide died from the incidents resulting from Nyssa madness. The ecological disaster that she had hope would being the path to cleanse the Earth was not as she had wanted. The Justice League led by Aquaman had contained it.

The Zek'nya Crisis was contained in the DMZ. Both camps have agreed to sit together. Peace talks were being brokered by Queen Diana. She hid her broken heart well and buried herself in her work.

The Justice League had announced why the events had transpired. Superman in a live presentation walked everyone through the data, which they did not acknowledged was all compiled by the World's Greatest Detective. Everyone forgot to ask.

**THE BATMAN** had left detailed case notes regarding his investigation of the Tsunami Incident- which was now renamed Near Apocalypse Event. He had knew of the Weapons grade plutonium from files in the Watchtower. The Dark Knight Detective had traced it to the Quiranian government facility that was destroyed months before. He also linked it to the now-accounted for Black Sea Fleet ships.

Oracle, the Birds of Prey and the Family closed the last case of their mentor.

The Calculator's network was brought down by Oracle and the Birds of Prey.

Jonathan Rodriguez was arrested and appropriately charged.

A global crack down on known League of Assassin cells were undertaken and Nyssa's castle leveled to the ground by a very angry Superman and Justice League.

**DICK GRAYSON** and the Family and Talia were in the Batcave. Alfred was tasked to play for them, detailed instructions left by Bruce. He had left Dick specific information- to be opened with Alfred, and only Alfred.

As they intently listened to him... he gave them each instructions- last minute lessons, their weakness and how to improve or compensate.

He gave Talia instructions on how to help the family, how to run Wayne Industries. He told her to publicly acknowledge their marriage.

After that, Talia took the younger members of her new family upstairs for some dinner. So Alfred and Dick would have privacy to view the Batman's instructions. They found out it contained detailed notes on how to handle his disappearance. How the world must never know of his activities but he told them, it would be up to them to decide to continue on with the work. _How_, was up to them to decide he said.

He had left instructions on the future of Wayne Industries and where his stash of good ideas where for the engineers to figure out. They were also to hire Hiro Okumura and give him a pay grade raise as an after thought.

The following morning, news of Bruce Wayne's tragic flight from Calcutta to the United States aboard his private jet shocked the world. Even amidst the trials of the human race had just gone through, he was another victim of the virus that wrecked havoc on every computer system and the same that sent the Russian Nuclear Arms to flying like ghosts.

The Bat-Family had rigged records. "Bruce" forced the flight crew to take a vacation. He wanted to fly alone and the billionaire wanted to return to America as quickly as possible.

He was a good pilot but not the best, Wayne Public Relations announced to the world. He was survived by his sons Richard Grayson and Timothy Drake, his daughter, Cassandra Cain, and his wife, Talia Al Ghul. The latter news that the Billionaire playboy had two adopted sons and an adopted daughter and an ex-wife shocked the world even more than his passing. How could the gossip columnist miss that?

Wayne Industries stock price fell briefly at the news of its poster child's passing but as the news that former LexCorp CEO Talia Al Ghul had billions of her own and resources like Kord at her disposal, merger rumors spread. Talia and the family were masters of manipulation. They all learned from the best it seemed.

Wayne Industries' stock rose ten points at the announcement she would be the new Chair, with Grayson as President and the other son and daughter sitting and actively participating in the board.

Lucious Fox remained as CEO.

Richard Grayson, the oldest of the Wayne heirs vowed that his children would continue the work his father had started. _People thought it was just charity work. _

**SUPERBOY WAS** resting in Titan's Tower after the incident in Grandville, Kansas. He was being counseled by the Martian Manhunter. Nobody blamed him for it.

Wonder Girl was supportive all the way. Including Supergirl who hanged around like a big sister of sorts, though they were of the same age.

When Robin walked by only to greet Conner, Cassie and Kara, Wonder Girl excused herself. Conner and Kara nodded. Conner knew why. He understood, he'd be up there with her, if he was able to.

Cassie searched first in Tim's room but found it empty. She had to use the monitoring system to find out the Boy Wonder was up in the roof.

As she entered the roof deck, Cassie wrapped her arms around herself as a cold breeze flew past them. She found Tim in deep thought.

_How hard was it to loose so many people he cared about in such short months? _

"Tim?" She whispered.

"Hey," was all she got. He didn't even look at her.

Silence. She waited for him to talk.

"I'm fine, Cassie." He turned towards her.

She didn't reply. Cassie hugged him and walked back inside. _He'll come around when he's ready to talk. _She decided. As she descended down the stairs she spoke to him, "You're not _him_, Tim. You're friends will be here when you need us."

Robin nodded.

**IT WAS** a somber mood in the Watchtower. There were services around the planet. But not for the man who single handedly made their victory possible. His actions would never be admitted, publicly or otherwise except perhaps in the shadows of the Watchtower or that cave of his. Even here it was difficult.

They were going to plan for a memorial service for the world's greatest detective, privately of course in the Watchtower. They had to ask Bruce's family about it first.

The was the best of them, in spite of his arrogance, his demanding and frightening nature. He didn't have any powers and yet, he stood toe-to-toe with them. If that wasn't a measure of how great the man was, none of them knew what else was there.

The world marched on, no matter who died be damned.

News of Batman missing in action in Gotham was already spreading throughout the Gotham Underworld. Crime was rising in the City. It was a concern to the Justice League.

The Batman loved his city and challenged any hero who would visit without his invitation. _How were they going to help Gotham on their own? _They all asked the question though no one voiced their concern.

The Hall of Justice's blast doors parted. The answer to their dilemma walked through the doors.

"J'ONN," Came the dark frightening angry voice of the Batman. "You failed to summon me." He strode in. The Dark Knight could feel their collective shock.

Superman was hearing for traces of lies in his heart like a living polygraph and he was using his X-Ray vision to determine who he was. If he was his best friend alive and well. It was a good thing the cowl was lead-lined.

Plastic Man jumped in fear. The League's faces all painted their surprise. _Diana_'s heart skipped a beat- _"Bruce?" _She whispered.

The Martian Manhunter would be reading his mind right now. The Justice League files were extensive, the countermeasures were as voluminous. Methods on how to block mental probes in the cave was very educational.

"How?" Superman asked, wide eyed like the rest of them.

The Batman sat on his chair, beside Wonder Woman's as if nothing had happened. He stared at Diana's eyes as he removed the cowl.

"I'm taking over starting today."

It was Dick Grayson still speaking in his mentor's voice with all the arrogance he could muster. He had the voice down and the dark brooding shadow masterfully. Dick had completely immersed himself in the darkness his late mentor cast. He was determined to create his own shadow. Just as quickly, he returned the cowl back.

Dick had debated considerably whether or not to tell them, it was him. What swayed him to do so? It was the Justice League. He owed them to know and besides, how long could he keep up the deception? It was not worthwhile so he just told them. He had better use for his time now.

In characteristic Batman, he impatiently growled. "What do we have on the agenda, J'onn? _I_ have a _city _to _protect_."

**EACH OF** THEM found it difficult to hear their old friend's voice even when he was gone. Arrogant bastard he was most of the time, the Batman always did what needed to be done to protect people. The Justice League returned to business, the League after all always endured no matter the tragedy.

Kal-El found it even more poignant to hear the voice and see the uniform of his friend being used by the son. He had always hoped Dick would escape the darkness. He remembered the young boy when he had visited him after Bruce fired him that one time.

_What did Bruce say...? _He asked himself. _the young man was full of grace. Or something like that. For some reason he couldn't remember exactly what he said. _

With Bruce's passing, the younger man allowed himself to wear the darkness like a sleeve.

**DIANA'S HEART** broke a million times more. It pained Diana to hear his voice. It hurt seeing The Batman alive and Bruce wasn't.

Bruce Wayne was indeed dead. His son was now Batman. She felt nauseous. She didn't know why. At the end of the meeting, she had requested to be placed in reserve status to spend more time in the Island. It was a fib. At least for awhile she said. They all understood. Even Superman did not disagree.

As she left the Watchtower, The Batman had met her in the transport room. He handed her a disc.

"This is for _you_," The Batman said in _his _voice. "It was meant for _you_", he said. "_He_ wanted _you_ to have _it_."

"What's in it?"

"I don't know." Was all he said as he walked past her.

_Bruce was always proud of his son. This one in particular. He did good with him._

"He would be proud you took over for him."

He stopped. "Who?" He glared at her then continued to walk away, never looking back.

_I'm so sorry, Diana_ he thought. His heart was still broken.

_I'm so sorry, Dick. _The Queen thought. Her heart was broken.

Diana activated the transporter. It would beam her back to Themyscira. She would view the disc there in the privacy of her tears and her grief.

**NYSSA CLIMBED** out of her pit, madness coursed through her.

"WHAAAAATTT!" Then seething rage as she remembered Bruce Wayne plunging his sword into her chest. How she felt the darkness claim her.

Naked, she attacked the first person she saw. It was her Ubu. She took her rage on him. Then her mind returned. An evil glint sparkled in her eyes. She wrapped her body around her creation, the Ubu and kissed it firmly in the lips, like a long lost lover would. Evil Laughter echoed into the night around her secret base.

Nyssa lived.

**IN GOTHAM**, Nicole Lee and just moved into the American city. She was determined to forget the last few weeks.

She had lost her husband and children in one morning. She couldn't even forget the look of dread in her husband as he carried their children across the sands...

Nicole wept again. The anguish was too great. _Why! _She called to God in heaven.In her womb she didn't know, grew a fetus.

**TWO BLOCKS** away from Nicole Lee's flat, and high above the city, a lone shadow fell like dark ink from Wayne Tower's precipice.

A scream echoed into the night, and police band radios on fire for the past few weeks.

They all wanted to know if _he _had left the city. _Was **he** dead?_

The name 'Batman' was dreaded. The Blue Boys of Gotham were out to shoot to kill any capes. The Batman was on top of that list. Yet in the weeks since he had virtually disappeared, crime rose to an all time high. Commissioner Atkins was pressured to do something about it.

The detectives of MCU had the word on the street. The Batman was no where to be seen.

_Was **he **dead?_

Some of them wished he was. Some of them thought without Batman, this would be a far worst city to live in.

The cops where overrun. The lunatics were having a party.

In a dark alley not far from Wayne Tower, a woman shrieked!

"Listen, beautiful, all i want is a peek... What you say?" A man's knife glistening in the darkness of the alley, his eyes spoke of lust as he licked his lips.

A shadow moved. Tom Johns didn't notice. He was too enticed with the beautiful scared woman in front of him. He was drunk with booze, drugs and lust.

Behind the woman, the ink-shadow moved.

Tom Johns' eyes lit up. He dropped his knife. He started to walk back into the busy city street.

The woman was shocked. What was happening?

Then something threw Tom Johns to the ground. IT was a blur and he was dragged past the woman, kicking and screaming into the darkness.

"_NNNNOOOOO!" _The woman didn't wait, she ran out into the busy well lighted street. Thankful who ever it was, she was safe.

**CRIMINALS WERE** still a superstitious and cowardly lot. Theatrics and deception were still the best tools to utilize in protecting people. It was time they remembered, the Batman lived. It was time to feel fear again.

"Hello, Tom Johns,"

"Who are you?"

"You've upgraded your profile: petty thief. That was attempted rape." The darkness told him.

He started to stand. Something hit him. He fell again.

"Where are you!" Tom Johns shrieked into the nothingness.

"I'm right here" Empty red eyes looked directly into Tom Johns. "YYoYoYou're suppose to be dead, man!" Fear bled through his eyes.

"Really!" A toothy grin formed and perfect white teeth shown in the darkness. "Who told you I was gone?"

"NNNooo, one" he stuttered.

The shadow grabbed him. He twisted his forearm and broke it in two.

"AAAHHHHH" Johns cried.

"That was for the woman you scared half to death with rape."

He picked the man up as if he was mere trash and they flew. Tom Johns didn't know how. His mind was too scared and the pain that his forearm registered was burning through him.

On the roof, the shadows still hid the dark knight. The Batman grabbed Tom Johns by the foot and hanged him upside down.

"Tell you what, Johns, I'm letting you go. Step out of line and you're going to make me very, _very_ unhappy," The red eyes looked at him and Johns wet himself in fear. "You don't want to make me _unhappy, _do _you_?"

The darkness enveloped them again. The line was suddenly cut and they plunged the entire height they climbed just minutes before and as they neared the ground the Batman whispered in a dark frightening voice, "Tell you're friends, I'm back".

The Batman let go of Johns who fell straight for a garbage dump. _Theatrics and Deception_, they work. The criminals of Gotham would remember fear again.


	9. epilogue

:epilogue 

**WEEKS BEFORE** floating in the cold Arctic Ice, Eskimos found a body floating in the sea. They thought him dead. He was icy cold. Barely breathing. Body bruised and battered as if he had gone to hell and back.

It was a miracle he survived. It will not be long before the gods claimed him, they all thought. Still, they brought him to their medicine man. There may be hope for him after all.

Briefly he had opened his eyes and they saw it was marked. Then the the darkness claimed him once more. Somehow they knew he would rise again one day.

the end?


	10. afterword

:after word 

I had been debating whether or not to include the epilogue. I mean, Doyle never wrote that Holmes survived that fall now did he? For all intents and purposes, the Great Detective was dead. I wanted something like that. It works either way but the surprise is a bit gone now right? I kinda thought that not including it would be more powerful somehow. I dunno. Comments?

This is the part where I suppose an editor comes in.

The fight scenes... could be more vivid. I must admit I just wanted to write it and go on. I could visualize the action in my head. Every blow-by-blow account. But I couldn't put it in word processor. Something, to fix! I suppose we could make another pass at it, time permitting but the real world beckons! I know, sucks sometimes doesn't it?

The Nightwing subplot could be better... to help explain the last chapter, I suppose.

The Oracle-Lady Blackhawk scene, hope the guys at Gotham RP enjoyed it:)

The Bruce-Diana dance thingy is based on JLU stuff. I hope my good buddy Bilky enjoyed it. She surprisingly loved that "Am I Blue" song Bruce "the Batman" Wayne sang for Wondy in JLU episode, "This Little Piggy".

Actually that subplot works, for some reason. It was written there purposely. Didn't think it would go that far though. Every good story needs a touch of the romantic side right? Personally, it could have been deleted the blowing up part scenes were much more enjoyable.

The story... I would have wanted more subplots. But I didn't have time to plan it out. No time. Story works anyway as it stands... not perfect but its there.

You know the title could be "The Batman and the Harbinger of Death" guest staring the JLA. Oh, well thats life. I just realized it after it was done.

I had hoped it would be deeper than this... maybe the next one, if ever?

Hope you guys had fun with it. This was my very first Fan Fiction. It was fun doing this. I certainly appreciate your feedbacks:D Thank you very much for reading:D

Cheers,

_**Arky**_

My Weblogs:

Big Mango – Analysis, Intelligence and Opinion on and about the Philippines

Penguin Stuff – Linux and Technology Stuff

Crucible A Novel

Amid Madness simple thoughts herein writ,


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